Basketball On The Internet.

IT IS entirely appropriate this is National Volunteer Week and Basketball Australia has jumped aboard, honoring the thousands who offer their time, skills and passion to help our great game prosper.

I had no idea more than six million Australians volunteer their services annually. That's 36 percent of the adult population and is a fabulous indicator of who we are as Australians.

Like many, I am sure I have been guilty at times of taking some of these people for granted and it is only when we lose one that real appreciation for their selfless assistance hits home.

Sadly that is the case today in Cairns where her family, friends and the Taipans organisation are mourning the death of club stalwart Tanya Roneberg.

A talented triathlete, Tanya, 37, was riding her bicycle along the Captain Cook Highway in Cairns on Saturday when she was struck by a utility.

Tanya, a legal secretary, was a familiar face on the sidelines at Cairns Taipans games, collecting match statistics for the team.

"Tanya was a dedicated club person and the entire Cairns basketball community is mourning her loss," Taipans CEO Mark Beecroft, said.

"Tanya served a number of years as head statistician for the Taipans, a role which she took incredibly seriously.

"Tanya's commitment and professional approach on game nights was invaluable to the club.

"She was a perfectionist with a bubbly personality and we could never get our hands on the stats until Tanya was satisfied they were correct.

"She will be dearly missed by everyone at the Taipans and the wider basketball community."

I didn't know Tanya personally but share the acute sense of loss, having only recently attended the funeral of Peter Jaunkalvis in Adelaide.

Peter died after a long illness but had been the president of the Adelaide Basketball Club and before that, A.S.K. through its halcyon years of Latvian domination of SA basketball.

Positive, happy and always present whenever needed, he too was a volunteer of enormous selfless energy and enthusiasm.

I didn't realise how positively he influenced me, all those years of running off the club's monthly news magazine "Giant News" in his garage on his old stencil machine.

Annually, he was the life of the club's summer Sunday picnic at Silver Sands beach, rallying players for the volleyball games, in his hat, long shorts and long socks - as was the fashion of the day.

Each year, the following Sunday at regular practice, he would be there with his sunburnt knees from the club day, as jovial as ever.

You had to love Peter, as I am sure the Taipans love Tanya.

Volunteers aren't just the lifeblood of basketball. They are the lifeblood of Australia.

You only have to recall the 2000 Sydney Olympics and ask the international visitors what impressed them most about their trip Down Under.

It was always - the volunteers.

God bless them.

We should be so very thankful we have them, and especially so while we have them.

http://www.volunteeringaustralia.org/News-and-Events/-National-Volunteer-Week-2013.asp