School Prems – A National Qualifiers

The ‘A’ Premiership national qualifying tournaments are organised by Basketball New Zealand, and hosted by local associations, for smaller secondary schools around the country. Schools must have a roll of less than 300 students (in Years 9-13, as at 1st of March in the year of the competition) for a single sex school, or less than 600 students (in Years 9-13, as at 1st of March in the year of the competition) for a co-ed school. The two tournaments available for ‘A’ schools are:

• North Island
• South Island

‘A’ Nationals is held in the first week of the October school holidays. Each tournament has a different number of teams that qualify for Nationals. Qualifying numbers can be found here.

An A school can opt to compete in an AA competition and cannot play in both A and AA competition for a single gender.

Only one team per gender, per school may be entered into senior competitions (A, AA, Cups).

For 2026 School Sport New Zealand have made some changes to their eligibility rules & regulations.

All of the SSNZ eligibility regulations can be found here

2025 A North Island Premierships

• 2025 A North Island Premierships Final Team Placings
• 2025 A North Island Results Draw
• 2025 A North Island Pool Grids
• 2025 A North Island Finals Grids

2025 A South Island Premierships

• 2025 A South Island Premierships Final Team Placings
• 2025 A South Island Results Draw
• 2025 A South Island Pools Grids
• 2025 A South Island Finals Grids

If more schools register for a tournament than the maximum team numbers permitted before the registrations close, then Basketball New Zealand will apply the following process:

As per the BBNZ Regulations found here – Book 3, Page 7, xvii.

Where the number of entries received exceeds the maximum number of teams allowed for any tournament, BBNZ reserves the right to determine which teams will be permitted to participate in the tournament. In deciding on which teams will be accepted into any tournament (where entries exceed the maximum number allowed) BBNZ may take into account any of the following
criteria;
• Entries received and payments made by the advertised due dates
• Prior history of the school in both participation and performance at the particular tournament
• Relative performance of schools in regional competitions in the same year as the particular tournament
• The total number of teams entered into the particular tournament by one school
(if there is more than one school team entered into a competition, the lower
graded teams may be moved to a different grade within that particular
tournament if space is available)
• Teams that are excluded through the above process will, where possible and
numbers permit, be offered an opportunity to participate in an alternative
tournament

Please be aware of the Basketball New Zealand Returns Policy – which can be found here

If a team withdraws after registering for a tournament, the school will only be entitled to a 50% refund of the tournament entry fee.

If a team withdraws after the draw has been completed & sent to participating teams, they are entitled to 0% of the tournament entry fee.

Schools can only enter one Senior Team per gender. Any additional teams will need to register for the waitlist, and once the registrations close, BBNZ will reach out to teams on the waitlist to fill any available spaces in our tournaments.

School Registrations Now Open for 2026 Winter Tournament Week – Closes Friday 3 July

2026 A Premierships Team Registration Form

2026 Player Registration Form

Registrations Now Open – Closes Friday 3 July

Current Team Registrations for our ‘A’ Premierships will be updated here periodically

SSNZ 2026 Championship Team Roster

Team Roster Form for ‘AA’ & ‘A’ Premierships

Venue & Host

• A North Island Premierships: 29 August – 1 September
• Host Association: Rotorua Basketball
• Venue: Unison Arena – Queen Drive, Government Gardens, Rotorua 3010
• Basketball NZ Event Lead: Libby Peckham | 022 373 2634 | libby@nz.basketball

Key Information

• Registrations Open: Now Open
• Registrations Due: Friday July 3
• Health & Safety Plan: 
  • Approx 4 weeks prior to tournament
• Draw: 
  • Approx 2 weeks prior to tournament
• Team Rosters:
  • Team rosters will be uploaded here once finalised
• Technical Meeting:
  • Approx 2 days prior to tournament
• 2026 Final Placings
  • Will be posted here after tournament

Venue & Host

• A South Island Premierships: 2 – 5 September
• Host Association: Basketball Otago
• Venue: Edgar Centre, Dunedin – 116 Portsmouth Drive, Dunedin 9012
• Basketball NZ Event Lead: Tori Williams | 027 269 3339 |tori@nz.basketball 

Key Information

• Registrations Open: Now Open
• Registrations Due: Friday July 3
• Health & Safety Plan: 
  • Approx 4 weeks prior to tournament
• Draw: 
  • Approx 2 weeks prior to tournament
• Team Rosters:
  • Team rosters will be uploaded here once finalised
• Technical Meeting:
  • Approx 2 days prior to tournament
• 2026 Final Placings
  • Will be posted here after tournament

Basketball NZ uses GameDay for all of our online draws and results.

All draws and results for school tournaments can be found here.

Alternatively, you can download the GameDay app, and follow these steps:

1. Click on the Tshirt at the bottom of the page
2. Search ‘BBNZ’ under ‘Leagues’
3. Click on BBNZ Schools
4. You can then find the tournament that you are wanting to follow

It is a condition of entry to our Premiership tournaments, that each team provides a referee. This has been a requirement for many years and is designed to ensure an adequate supply of referees for the events as well as provide an opportunity for student referees to represent their school.

To make the rostering of referees to games more efficient, teams must provide their referee details at the time of entry. Your team entry is subject to providing all the required details including your referee.

Please note that on the first day of the tournament each team’s referee will be rostered to officiate the game immediately before or after your schools game. The Technical Commissioner will then roster referees to games for the remainder of the tournament based on merit.

Please note:

• Failure to provide a referee at the tournament, may result in your school being excluded from the following years Premiership.
• Referees must be available for the entire duration of the tournament and are there solely for the purpose of refereeing  – i.e. they are not playing or coaching. This reduces the demands on them mentally and physically.
• It is recommended that referees are students from the school. This has proved the most successful means to ensure schools can provide referees for tournaments.
• Student referees, as is the case with players, are representatives of their school.  It is hoped that this is the incentive for student referees to attend.
• Each referee will be required to officiate at least two games per day.
• Referees should have completed, as a minimum, the Level 1 Refereeing Course, but more importantly be up to the level of game.
• It is the responsibility of each team to make arrangements (eg. accommodation, transport, meals) for your referee to attend the tournament.  No game fees will be paid to referees at the tournament.
• Tournament information for referees will be sent to school contacts and the provided referee email.
• For development of referees please speak to your local Association or refer to our website here.

Contact email: tournaments@nz.basketball | phone:  (04) 498 5950