Players must play their correct age groups

It is the directive of Southern Districts Basketball Association, that all players will register and play in their correct age groups.

Your child may have more developed skills than what the competition offers, but what they may be missing is court awareness and good decision-making ability to apply their skills effectively. The way to achieve this is through playing confidently in their own age group and not moving up early. By remaining in their age group they will learn more than the basic dribble, pass and shoot. They learn to lead others, share the game with potentially less skilled players and develop the knowledge to get their team the best shot and not necessarily just themselves.  Southern Districts has taken steps to have age groups reflect those of the BQ representative season therefore, highly skilled players will be playing in these age groups at the highest level possible so remaining in their age group is essential.

Moving up an age group will only be approved and considered at the Association level and significant evidence needs to be provided for the consideration of an exemption to move up an age group.

Hoopstars does support players who want to play in two age groups.  This can be discussed with the Boys or Girls coordinator who will liaise with the Executive Commitee for final decisions. The second age group is at a reduced fee.  However, priority has to be given to their actual age group.  This is due to the Association bylaws that state players must be eligible for finals in their own age group to play finals in their second age group.  Draw clashes for players playing in two age groups must be managed appropriately or the opportunity to play in the higher age group will be removed by the club and the player will be de registered from the higher age group.

Opportunities will also exist for players to play additional games in higher divisions or age groups throughout the year as injury, illness and other concerns come into play.

If you have an extenuating circumstance that requires us to consider placing your child up early then please get in touch with your age group coordinator.

These are the principles of the club.

  • Each team will consist of a coach and a manager.

    • Players must contact their team manager with their absence in a timely manner. Game forfeits attract fees from the association and are not included in season fees. It is at the clubs discretion to pass on these fees to the teams

  • No fewer than 7 players and no more than 10 players depending on reasons submitted to the age coordinators for approval of the executive committee
  • Each team will consist of players of similar ages and abilities.
  • Players are required to play in their own age group first. If a vacant position is available in a requested higher age group, the player will be required to pay a second set of fees to cover the season fees of the player for which a position has been taken.
  • In special circumstances players may be requested by the club to fill a higher age group team and vacate their lower age should the available players exist in the lower age group with similar ability.
  • Once players have accepted their position on a team, they must remain in that team for the Season unless the Age Coordinator has given approval.
  • Parents/Caregivers must be responsible for any pre-existing medical conditions for their player at both training and games.
  • Training for U14/U12/U10 and U8 teams should be attended by Parents/Caregivers so coaches can focus on training and not behaviour management.

Team Communication

  • Once teams have been released, each coach and manager will be provided with a team list consisting of the names and contact numbers of each player and club officials’ details we recommend the Heja app for communication.
  • ALL personal information is to be treated confidentially.
    • Players may play for another Hoopstars team in a higher division or age group, but never within the same or lower division or age group.
    • A player can only play higher than his/her division for 4 games. On the 5th game, the player must remain in the higher division
    • All Hoopstars teams are asked to be supportive of one another by lending players for fixtures whenever possible.
    • Coaches wishing to borrow players must FIRST approach the age coordinator to organise a fill-in player. If the fill-in player is missing his normal team game he must have the permission of the coach and the junior player’s parents.

**PLEASE READ**

Hoopstars Basketball Club takes the selection of our teams very seriously. Many hours of preparation, discussion and formatting of teams takes place before teams can be announced.

Allocation Process

The aim of the allocation process is to form balanced teams for the season.

The number of players registered in each age group also has a bearing on team selection. Hoopstars preference is to formulate teams with a optimum number of 8 players in each team during the season which takes into account player availability, absence due to holidays, school sport and representative commitments and any injuries from the season.

Due to numbers of players registered in some specific age groups, it sometimes means that players can play out of their age group. Selectors take this process very seriously and believe that any player which is moved up an age group are more than capable of achieving success.

Please also note that if a player is selected in the number 1 team in each Division – friend requests are not considered by the selectors or coaches.