Due to an extremely successful 2022, which saw our numbers grow exponentially across the board, there will be some major, and super exciting, changes to our 2023 Winter season starting in Term 2! The changes allow us to create sustainable room for further growth to our competitions and Rep teams. These include:
Restructuring of Age Groups
The restructuring of the age groups has 3 major effects: it accommodates the rising numbers, as well as creates smooth transitions between each age group, and from our domestic program into our Representative program. The ‘cut-off’ date for the Winter 2023 competition is September 23rd, ie. if a player turns 12 before that date, they must play U14s and not U12s.
New Youth Men Competition
The new Youth League Men domestic competition is for players under the age of 23, creating a competition that correlates to the Representative Youth League Men team. It can be considered an expansion of the U20s competition, allowing for more players and a more competitive competition. It also provides a further intermediate step to avoid jumping from the Junior domestic system into the Senior domestic system.
Restructuring Weekly Schedule
In order to accommodate these new age groups, as well as a Rep training schedule that suits our expanded teams, we had to change the nights that certain age groups played. All our rep teams now train on Wednesday nights, and the new schedule also allows us to accommodate future growth as best as we can.
Development Session Schedule: (here for more info)
Tiny Hoops: Saturday 10 – 10:30am
Aussie Hoops: Monday 5:10 – 6:10pm, Friday 5:10 – 6:10pm and Saturday 9 – 10am
Pink Squad: Monday 5:10 – 6:10pm
U10s: Tuesday and Thursday 5:10 – 6:10pm
Ball4All: Saturday 10:30 – 11:30am
IGNITE: Saturday 10:00 – 11:00am
Scorchers Skills Academy: Saturday 11:00 – 12:00pm
U12 Boys: Monday nights – 6:15, 7:00, 7:45pm
U14 Boys: Friday Nights – 6:15, 7:00, 7:45pm
U16 Boys: Tuesday Nights – 6:15, 7:00, 7:45, 8:30pm
U18 Boys: Tuesday Nights – 8:30, 9:15pm
Youth Men (U23): Friday Nights – 8:30, 9:15pm
Open Men: Thursday Nights – 6:15 through 10pm
U14 Girls: Monday Nights – 6:15, 7:00pm
U18 Girls: Monday Nights – 8:30pm
Open Women: Monday Nights – 9:15pm
Replacement of Gamesheets with Courtside
Perhaps the most exciting news for Winter 2023 is the introduction of the Courtside scoring system. Already used in Reps, it is a digital way of scoring domestic games with much less confusion than the gamesheets, allowing players to track their stats whilst technologically moving the Association forward. During this introduction, there will be an education process for parents to learn how to do this – it is significantly easier and more accessible than the paper game sheets we currently use.
