Grateful dad offers Murray Bridge community free basketball coaching

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Tom Cioffi is grateful to the Murray Bridge community for enabling his 10-year-old son Kobe to compete in the Nunawading 2023 basketball tournament.

Mr Cioffi wants to pay forward the community support by giving free basketball coaching.

Kobe Cioffi was invited to compete in a basketball tournament in Melbourne last month, but his parents Tom and Delilah struggled to pay for the travel, accommodation and other expenses.

Murray Bridge News promoted the Cioffi’s plea for the community to help with expenses for the trip, such as new tyres for their car.

As a result, the community came to the rescue, with anonymous businesses and individuals making cash donations and Murray Bridge Wholesale Tyres fitting four new tyes on the Cioffis’ car.

Kobe got to compete in the basketball tournament after all.

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Mr Cioffi, who has extensive playing and coaching experience, wants to return the community kindness by giving a free one-on-one basketball session to any child or adult from Murray Bridge.

“I don’t like taking for nothing,” he said.

“My idea of a community is that you help someone when you get the opportunity, and they help you – and it comes full circle.

Both Kobe’s parents were thrilled with how happy the basketball tournament had made their son.

“Kobe had a brilliant time,” Mrs Cioffi said.

“He didn’t win any games but played really hard and even got the coach’s award in the final game.”

Mr Cioffi said that competing in the tournament had made Kobe feel “pretty special”.

“He absolutely loved it: he loved being with his friends, and for the first time in his memory, he went to the Melbourne CBD, and he was amazed by the size,” he said.

“He even went to an NBA (National Basketball Association) store, with every NBA thing you can think of.

“For the tournament, we told him, ‘you play hard, because people are backing you, so give it your best’ – and he did.”

Mr Ciofffi’s free one-on-one coaching sessions will last for around an hour and will take place in the coming school holidays

He will also reserve spots for people with special needs.

Although Mr Cioffi will try to accommodate everyone interested, his free sessions are booking fast.

• Book a session: Contact Tom Cioffi directly on Facebook.

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