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Player Pathway

Basketball NSW's Player Pathway initiatives aim to deliver professional, integrated and clear elite development pathways and programs for players throughout NSW/Australia.

What is a player pathway?

The diagram indicates the Basketball NSW Player Pathway for females and males in NSW.

Where Can I Play?

Australian National Teams

Boomers / Opals

The Australian Boomers & Opals are Australia’s senior Men & Women’s national teams which compete at the Asia Cup to qualify for the World Championships & the Olympic Games.

Rollers/Gliders

Basketball Australia has two national teams, Gliders (women’s national team) Rollers (men’s national team).

Boomerangs/Pearls

Basketball Australia has two national teams, Pearls (women’s national team) Boomerangs (men’s national team) AND they compete at the Virtus Global Games (next event 2023) and the Virtus World Championships (next event 2021).

Centre of Excellence & NBA Global Academy

The Basketball Australia Centre of Excellence (CoE) formerly – AIS Basketball Program has been the world-leading junior development program since 1981.


Dedicated to the development of future Boomers and Opals, the scholarship athletes are exposed to the country’s elite service providers and world-class facilities based at the AIS in Canberra.

The program takes a holistic approach to the development of elite international athletes and integrates education, basketball services, sports science and personal excellence into its daily training environment. The centre also hosts the NBA’s Global Academy and the athletes in both programs form teams to compete in the NBL1 East competition.

Overall, Australia has produced the 3rd highest amount of international stars in the NBA with 17, only behind Canada and Serbia, and have had 31 players play in the WNBA. All of these athletes, with the exception of 2, are a product of the Centre of Excellence.

Australian Junior National Team

Basketball Australia selects junior national teams to represent Australia every two years at World Junior Championships, these teams begin qualification through Oceania and in to the Asia Cup.

Our junior teams are U17 Crocs, U17 Sapphires, U19 Emus, U19 Gems.

State Team

Basketball Australia hosts annual National Championships in the U16, U18, U20  age groups.

State teams representing Basketball NSW from Country & Metro are selected to compete at the annual National Junior Championships.

High Performance Program

Basketball NSW’s High-Performance Program (HPP) serves to identify, develop, and foster the skills of young athletes who aspire to compete at the representative, national, and international levels of basketball.

Each year around September/October the High Performance Trials, open to any registered member in Country or Metropolitan NSW are held.


These trials serve to select (players and coaches) for Development Tours, State Development Program (SPP) our most elite program for athletes in Country & Metro regions, the Developing Athlete Program (DAP) which is our underpinning program for athletes in Metro NSW, for Country athletes the equivalent program is run by the Regional Academy of Sport (RASi).

Development Tours

Basketball NSW selects athletes and coaches (from the High Performance Trials) to participate in various Development Tours held in January.


These Tours provide Country and Metro athletes with the opportunity to compete against each other, as well as against athletes from other States in Australia.


The Tours also allow coaches and athletes to gain experience in high-level tournament play, preparing them for potential involvement in State Teams in the future.


The focus of the Tours is development first and foremost and selections and preparations reflect as such.

Representative

Talented basketball players are selected by Associations to play in representative teams to compete in competitions run by Basketball NSW.


The Waratah Junior League cater for players from U12 through to U18. Metropolitan teams complete in the Metro Junior League, whilst Country teams will compete in the regional based leagues to cater for their members. The top teams in Country & Metro will come together to play in the Junior Premier League.

Also, on the June long weekend the John Martin Tournament is held throughout all of Country NSW, giving the opportunity for members to play against teams from other regions.

In addition to the Waratah Junior Leagues, there are various open age representative leagues, Waratah Youth League (U22), Waratah League (Opens) & NBL1 East (Opens coming in 2022).

Domestic

Domestic basketball competitions are local competitions run by associations at various venues across the state.

Players can play in two competitions (Winter) Term 2 & 3 or (Summer) Term 4 & 1. These competitions cater for all age groups ranging from U8 through to open age and masters grades.

Often times, these competitions are graded to suit all ages and ability levels.

Aussie Hoops

Aussie Hoops introduces children to basketball in a structured, safe, FUN and exciting learning and accredited environment that connects our game at the grassroots through to the elite level.

Our national coaching curriculum and the sequentially-developed program consists of warm-up games, skill activities and modified games all delivered by accredited coaches.

Start playing basketball today!

Where Can I Play?