After breaking a 17-game losing streak at the weekend the South West Slammers will turn their attention to this Friday night when the club will celebrate a special anniversary.

The Slammers are commemorating their 1996 men’s Bunbury City Slammers triumph in the State Basketball League over Geraldton Buccaneers 103-86, where they went back-to-back after their maiden win in 1995.

Current men’s coach and player during that time Jason Chalk said it would be a special moment to see the old squad back together to celebrate a great achievement.

“As far as the history of the club, I live and breathe for this club, and 96 we probably weren’t meant to win it, but we backed up well and got the win,” he said.

“We’ve got a lot of those boys coming to the game, they’ll come into the change room to listen to the pre-game talk and all that sort of stuff, and hopefully we get a lot of past players and coaches and managers along as well.

“I’ve been building the guys up for this, you know none of them were born 30 years ago and the history of the club is pretty huge, and we may not have had the success recently, but we’re still in the top five for championships won in the SBL and NBL1.”

Leading the way during the historic run was current assistant coach and star import James Fitch, who dominated in the 1996 grand final win with 35 points and eight rebounds.

Chalk couldn’t have spoke more highly for club legend Fitch, but also said the locals played a massive role in the success of the team.

“The thing that was so pleasing for us was other than the imports, we were all from Bunbury or the South West, every one of us and I still try and hold that true to as much as we can these days,” he said.

“But we just did it tough, the club had no money, literally at that point, the players were paying 50 bucks each to get on the bus to go to Geraldton and Kalgoorlie.

“None of us got paid, except for the imports, we just did it for the love of the club, and obviously we had a golden era.”

There’s more to just playing Chalk said, hoping that the players understand the significance of what pulling on a Slammers jersey means.

“As I tell my guys all the time, that when you step on the court, you’re not just playing for yourself, you’re playing for the people who don’t get to play,”

“It’s for the volunteers, the supporters, the people who’ve come before you, the players that have worn the number before you,” he said.

“I’m sure the boys get sick and tired of me talking about the old days, but it’s just what we knew and we’re looking forward to our guys and girls currently talking to some of the past players after the games and how the club meant so much to them as well.”

Even though the men’s and women’s teams have had a down run in recent times, Chalk is still confident that with the strong local contingent coming through the tide will shift.

“These guys have the chance to write the next chapter in the Slammers book, they’re good enough, we’re just not consistent enough.

“There’s absolutely no reason in the next two to three years that they can’t be winning their own championships.”