HoopNow’s beginning
Matt Walker and Jordan Sandler founded HoopNow in 2020. Jordan and Matt are childhood best friends and both heavily involved in the basketball and disability communities. Currently, Jordan is the CEO of HoopNow.
Jordan has founded two other organisations (CareNow and ShineNow) with the focus of all three organisations being to encourage more young people to work within the disability community and to support and empower young individuals living with a disability.
Jordan also volunteers at numerous disability organisations around Melbourne and has facilitated multiple educational seminars regarding disability and inclusion.
Jordan is as passionate about basketball as you’ll find and has been around basketball all his life. Jordan has played, coached, and refereed all the way from domestic U8’s to Big V.
Our Advisory Board and Management
The HoopNow Advisory Board is responsible for helping shape the vision of the program and working behind the scenes to make sure that HoopNow has the support, resources, and professional guidance it needs. The HoopNow Advisory Board consists of:
Nichola Lefroy chairs our Advisory Board and is a graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors. She works in Development and Philanthropy, is Executive Trustee of two foundations, and on the board of Marriott Support Services. The last time she played basketball, she blew up her left ACL. When she blew up her right ACL as well, Gaylene McKay got her moving again! Growing up her favourite teacher was her older brother who has an intellectual disability. Through him, she learnt all the important lessons in life - family, empathy, inclusion, how to see into another’s heart, and that dancing to ABBA is pure joy.
Dr Gaylene Mckay is the Managing Director of Alphington Sports Medicine Clinic and Lead Physiotherapist for the Australian Womens Basketball Team. Gaylene played 17 years in the Women’s National Basketball League (WNBL) and won 6 titles in her time playing 338 games and was the first player in WNBL history to reach 300 games. Gaylene was also the VJBL representative coach at Bulleen Boomers 2009-2015 and Hawthorn Magic 2016-2018.
Dr Tanya Serry is the Associate Professor (Literacy and Reading) in the School of Education at La Trobe University. She is also the co-director of the SOLAR Lab (Science of Language and Reading) which is a virtual platform for advancing research, professional learning, and advocacy in the pursuit of ensuring that all students leave school with well-developed reading and writing skills. Tanya has an extensive background as a practising speech pathologist and is committed to ensuring that children and adolescents are provided with high-quality teaching and support in order to reach their language and literacy potential. Her research and teaching are focused on language and literacy and learning difficulties among students from the early years through to tertiary students as well as students experiencing social disadvantage.
Luke Jankie is an AHPRA registered psychologist, who works with the AFL Players Association, Tackle Your Feelings and in private practice as a therapist. He has a passion for empowering people, and has long been involved in grass-roots community organizations. On the court he has great hustle, describing himself as a serviceable 3&D guy.
Toni Farnworth is an accountant at Westcourt Family Business Accountants, currently studying toward her CA qualification. She has recently retired basketballer playing 13 seasons in the WNBL and over 250 games, playing most recently with the Melbourne Boomers in 2020. She is originally from New Zealand and has represented her country internationally, captaining the Tall Ferns and playing over 100 games.
Our Story
Our first exposure to teamwork, friendship and sports came in the form of our local, grassroots basketball program.
As children, and later, young adults our basketball and ongoing participation in the team was very important to us. It became a crucial part of our personal/social and skill development and, more importantly, helped us to forge strong friendships which endure to this day.
We strongly believe that every child and young person of any ability deserves to have the same opportunity to participate and thrive in a team sports environment.
We understand there are many barriers to inclusion for children and young people living with a disability and this is why we have launched the HoopNow basketball program.
Our aim is to create a safe and supportive environment that allows for children with developmental challenges to participate to the best of their ability.We designed a program that works to develop both the skills and social engagement of the participants, allowing them to thrive.
At HoopNow we want all participants to experience what we were able to enjoy when we were younger, and also what has enabled us to become the great mates we are today.
We are delighted to be able to offer through HoopNow an opportunity to blend our love for basketball and belief in the value of team participation with our passion for the needs of children and young people with social and developmental challenges.
Our Team
Our team of coaches are all highly passionate about disability inclusion and advocacy as well as huge basketball fans. They are equipped with the right skills to be able to best support any child that walks through the HoopNow doors. Our coaches put all their energy into ensuring that basketball is able to be engaged with in a highly supported and positive environment. We will work tirelessly to promote the values of teamwork with strong, positive encouragement and much enthusiasm.
CareNow
HoopNow is partnered with CareNow. CareNow is a disability organisation that focuses on engaging and training young and passionate people to work as support workers. CareNow’s approach focuses on people-first inclusion, working with the individuals and support workers to help facilitate the creation of personal, genuine and trusting relationships. Whilst sharing similar methods and vision, CareNow also supports HoopNow providing access to all of its vital training structures, support systems and educational content to help with the training and development of the coaching team.