It could be a decade before they start to reap the rewards due to a lack of pathways leading into their representative programs.

Association president Gary Turnbull said a general lack of numbers within the junior domestic competition has seen the association unable to field teams in numerous age groups.

If they don't start to do something now, a generation of basketballers could fall by the wayside.

"The representative program is so dire at the moment there are numerous age groups where we cannot field a team at all," Mr Turnbull said.

Encouragingly, they know how to get to the destination. It's just going to take time to get there.

The association's long-term goal was to form a club-based competition where various clubs would nominate teams much like other codes have done.

"To do that you need significant numbers and there are four age groups for a junior program," the president said.

"That's an eight-year spread from under-12s through to under-18s.

"Then you have the juniors who proceed the primary school kids that are five to 10 years old before they even get to a representative age.

"Realistically we're looking at 10 years just by virtue of the length of the pathway. We can't produce under 18-year-olds tomorrow."

But instead of being daunted about the road ahead, the board is excited about the future.

"The centrepiece for us right now is on junior development," Mr Turnbull said.

"We need to get basketball in front of the local community and demonstrate why it's such a terrific game and why it offers so much and attract youngsters into it."

Port Macquarie will look to copy a number of other successful associations across the country with Albury-Wodonga and Maitland featuring on the radar.

While it is important to replicate what is proven to have worked, Port Macquarie also needs to have the right people in the right positions for the sport to flourish locally.

Mr Turnbull knows there is no shortage of people within the community willing to contribute.

"We've got a great diversity of people within the population so let's get them in a position where they can work to their strengths, where their interests are and let's let them get on with the job," he said.

"We need coordinators and committees and we need to get people into those positions and to do that these roles some form of expectation.

"It really is starting from scratch. It's like building a business out of nothing, or very little, and if anyone has an expectation of instant results, it's unrealistic.

"The main message is we've got talented people who are highly committed and we have a vision for the future."

Meanwhile, Taree Basketball Association secretary Miranda Bourke said they were focused on generating interest in their under-12 division.

"The focus for us is on getting younger girls to play because if you don't have an under-12 representative team, it's difficult to get them," she said.

They were looking at replicating what worked up at Lismore and Bellingen by providing a pathway for players who are not at representative level, but who still wanted to continue to play.

"We could do something here to give those other players who don't play rep the opportunity to continue to play at a high level," she said.

"We're very vocal and our president is right into basketball so whenever he talks to anyone he encourages them to join.

"We bungle along and it seems to be working."

What else is happening in news, sport?

Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can continue to access our trusted content: