New basketball team receives warm welcome

With the spring season of Active Melbourne City Sport (AMCS) just kicking off, the basketball competition has welcomed two teams from Penguin Random House.

Penguin Random House (PRH) heard about AMCS through a colleague’s partner who already participated in the competition.

Also, being close to the Harbour Esplanade courts, members from Penguin Random House have managed to catch a game or two on lunch breaks.

The team members had been interested in joining the competition in Docklands for the past few years and discussions finally came into fruition in 2017.

When it came to choosing a sport to play in Docklands, the team voted and decided to go for basketball. The group doesn’t have any favourite sports team or players but “strive to play like Michael Jordan and dunk like Shaquille O’Neal. It’s still a work in progress.”

Team manager Sophie Teague said: “We were really lucky to be registered as we had only just missed the registration deadline. AMCS was extremely helpful and efficient in registering our two teams and supplying us with the game fixtures.”

When asked who the captain of the teams was, Ms Teague said they “share the workload of captain responsibilities”.

“Our team is a mixed bag of Penguin Random House staff who are keen to get outside and break a sweat on their lunch breaks – all while clearing our heads and having a laugh.”

“Playing basketball takes approximately one hour (at most!) out of our lunch breaks on a Wednesday. It’s well worth it for all the benefits and increases our productivity well into the afternoon.”

When not playing basketball, the PRH staff tends to go for walks, take yoga classes and even squeeze in a quick 30-minute run on their lunch breaks, according to Ms Teague.

“We also enjoy sitting at the lunch table and having a chat with our colleagues from other parts of the business,” she said.

Other sporting activities outside of work that the team members participate in are women’s AFL, netball, jiu jitsu and soccer.

Penguin Random House is one of 50 companies that compete every week at the Docklands Sports Courts.

The benefits of breaking up the work day and getting some exercise are well known and shown with Penguin Random House’s two teams as well as the other teams that play during their lunch times.

Active Melbourne City Sports offers soccer, basketball, netball, barefoot bowls, touch football and dodgeball competitions, all held at the Docklands Sports Courts and Flagstaff Gardens venues each week during lunchtime.

The spring season has already commenced so head down at lunchtime to check out the competition and people having fun. Register your interests in the Autumn 2018 Season now at amcs.melbourne.vic.gov.au