Hobart’s Swisherr Hoops Academy will close its doors this weekend.
The closure ends a five-year run at the former K&D hardware building at 103 Melville Street, one of the city’s busiest basketball hubs.
The academy has built a community of 12,000 active customers.
It will host its ‘Shed A Tear for The Shed’ farewell on Saturday, with a celebrity versus media match, charity fundraisers and a special birthday party.
The closure follows the University of Tasmania’s decision to sell the building, which Swisherr had leased for five years.
Co-owner and former Tasmanian premier David Bartlett said the venue’s run had been transformative.
He runs Swisherr with fellow co-founders Anthony Stewart and Mark Nash, a former NBL player.
“It’s been just the best journey of our lives,” Bartlett told Pulse.
He said the academy’s purpose had always been clear.
“We’ve had a really clear purpose, which is to help young Tasmanians find their pathway through to work or further learning through their passion for basketball and that’s just been so rewarding.”
The facility has hosted 400 visiting teams over its five years.
It also helped build university basketball programs that saw UTAS claim both national titles in the University Basketball League last year – the first university to do the double.
Saturday’s line-up includes a celebrity versus media match.
Players include Speak Up Stay Chatty’s Mitch McPherson, former NBL star Wayne ‘Big Mac’ McDaniel, MLC Bec Thomas, Labor leader Josh Willie and Luca Brasi’s Tyler Richardson.
A highlight will be a 10th birthday party for Grace, who celebrated her fifth birthday at Swisherr the week it opened.
The day will also feature exhibition games from community groups including the all-inclusive Stars disability basketball team.
It will close with a three-point shootout where the winner takes home a $20,000 ball return machine.
Swisherr will continue running academy programs from Elizabeth College, Kingborough Sports Centre and its Launceston SHOTLAB site.
But Bartlett said the Melville Street community atmosphere would be hard to replace.
“You come up here on an evening after school and it’s just jammed with kids who aren’t paying money – they’re just here to hang out and be part of it,” he said.
The closure comes as Basketball Tasmania has warned the state needs at least 31 additional courts to meet surging demand.
