SECONDARY SCHOOLS TOURNAMENT HUB
- Rule Changes for 2023
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FIBA has announced some changes to the Official Basketball Rules that took effect globally from 1 October 2022. Because this date falls within our normal season, the rule changes will apply in New Zealand from 1 January 2023.
Many of the changes are minor or improved wording to aid clarity.
All rule changes can be found here.
- Tournaments Calendar
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Basketball NZ 2023 Tournaments Calendar can be found here.
Tournaments in 2023:
- Important Dates
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Winter Tournament Week
- Registrations Open: Early Term 2 2023
- Registrations Due: Wednesday 28 June
- Health & Safety Plan: Approximately Wednesday 26 July – once signed off by School Sport NZ
- Draw Release: Approximately 11 August
- Technical Meeting: Each tournament host will set the technical meeting date and time. Check each tournament page for more information.
- Secondary School Tournaments Explained
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Non-Qualifying Events
Junior Premierships – They are tournaments for students in Years 9 and 10 ONLY, to introduce them to a secondary school tournament. Schools can only attend tournaments that are located within their zone. There are four tournaments available for juniors nationwide:
- Zone 1 – Northern (Northland and Auckland)
- Zone 2 – Mid North (Waikato, Tauranga, Rotorua, Gisborne, Taupo)
- Zone 3 – Central (New Plymouth, Hawkes Bay, Wellington)
- Zone 4 – Southern (South Island)
Cups – They are tournaments that are put on by Basketball NZ, and supported by local associations, to give secondary school students the opportunity to play within a tournament, in a less competitive setting. Schools may choose to send their B teams or send a new team in the lead up to attending Premierships the following year. There are 3 Cups nationwide, and you can choose which cup to send your team to (schools are not bound by zones like for other tournaments):
- Northern
- Central
- Southern
Nationals Qualifiers
A and AA teams are competing to gain a place at Nationals which is held in the first week of the October school holidays. Each Zone has a different number of teams that qualify for Nationals. Qualifying numbers can be found here.
A Premierships– These are tournaments for smaller secondary schools around the country. They must have a roll of less than 300 students (in Years 9-13) for a single sex school, or less than 600 students (in Years 9-13) for a co-ed school. The two tournaments available for ‘A’ schools are:
- North Island
- South Island
AA Premierships – These are tournaments for larger secondary schools around the country. Schools should have a roll of more than 300 students* (in Years 9-13) for a single sex school, or more than 600 students* (in Years 9-13) for a co-ed school. The four tournaments available for ‘AA’ schools are:
- Zone 1 – Northern (Northland and Auckland)
- Zone 2 – Mid North (Waikato, Tauranga, Rotorua, Gisborne, Taupo)
- Zone 3 – Central (New Plymouth, Hawkes Bay, Wellington)
- Zone 4 – Southern (South Island)
* A schools can attend AA Premierships if they choose to, however the school must commit to AA for the whole season. Schools cannot play in a AA Premiership, then switch to A for Nationals.
Flow chart for all schools tournament can be found here.
- Tournament Fees
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- Secondary Schools 3×3 Nationals
- $350 plus 15% GST per team
- Secondary Schools Premierships (‘A’, ‘AA’, Junior & Cups)
- $750 plus 15% GST per team
- Secondary Schools Nationals (‘A’ & ‘AA’)
- $1,300 plus 15% GST per team
Each school will be invoiced within 5 working days of the tournament entries closing.
The Tournament Entry Fees Quote can be found here under ‘Calendar and Fees’.
Please find the Basketball NZ Returns Policy here.
- Secondary Schools 3×3 Nationals
- Team & Player Registrations
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Team Registrations
All registrations will be done online through GameDay.
Registration links will be sent out in early Term 2. Once they have been sent out, they will be posted here.
Along with the online registration, a School Sport NZ Roster Form MUST be completed and emailed to BBNZ.
Player Registrations
Each student must self register online.
Once the team has been entered on GameDay, the confirmation email will contain a Team Code.
Students must use the Team Code to be assigned to their team.
A full guide on how to register for Secondary School Tournaments can be found here.
- Eligibility Regulations
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Basketball NZ follows all Eligibility rules set by School Sport NZ. The full list of regulations can be found here.
A student eligible to compete in National and Island secondary school events must:
- be enrolled as a bona fide (Year 9 or above) student at the school of representation and studying at least
80% of a programme that is part of the timetable provided by the school for at least four weeks immediately
prior to the event. In addition to this, as per Basketball NZ Regulations, Year 7 and 8 students are not eligible to compete. - have a satisfactory attendance record at the school. The final decision will be at the Principal’s discretion.
- be under 19 years of age at the first of January in the year of the competition unless specified otherwise
for a particular competition.
A school team eligible to compete in School Sport NZ sanctioned events must not exceed the quota of students new to the school in the 2 years preceding the first day of the event as specified in the table below. Basketball has a new to school quota of 2. For clarity, the student’s most recent enrolment date at the school must be used.
Teams are limited to a maximum two (2) non domestic students, and any non domestic student must always be included in the quota allowed.
Please note that any final decision on the eligibility of a student or team will rest with School Sport NZ.
All of Basketball NZ’s Eligibility Regulations for school tournaments in 2023 can be found here.
School B teams are able to participate at Basketball NZ tournaments during Winter Tournament week, however they will only be able to participate in Non-Qualifying events. More information on B teams can be found here.
- be enrolled as a bona fide (Year 9 or above) student at the school of representation and studying at least
- Player Clashes and Reminders for Teams
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Secondary School basketball is continuing to reach new heights, our fantastic game is a positive outlet that more young people are taking up every year. This is evident in Junior, A, and AA premierships as they become more stretched, most tournaments hitting their max team capacity before registration cut-off.
Schools are entering more teams and needing more players than ever before, however this is leading to players doubling up. While this is more obvious in female competitions, the number of Schools who choose to play athletes across multiple sports or Junior/Senior grades is increasing. Managing athletes across multiple sports or grades is a decision that either the School and/or the athletes guardian has made. With this decision, schools and parents should not expect each sport to be able to cater for these athletes. As you would have done when making this decision, each sport has to juggle the administration across multiple competitions taking place while also ensuring that venue and host requirements are met. We have recently had instances where teams have tried to use their team and player availability as an advantage by stating if they can’t get an assurance of a request the team would pull out of the competition!
School Sport NZ (formally NZSSSC) recently published an article on monitoring student athletes, specifically focusing on workload and negative effects on your athletes, such as injuries and burnout. The article features a monitoring programme that schools have an opportunity to utilise. Check out the article here.
Winter Tournament Week is a short window that has to fit a plethora of sport tournaments, and there is unfortunately no way we can all fit in without clashing with one another. In saying that, Basketball New Zealand’s first priority (if possible) is making sure our Junior and Senior events do not clash.
To ensure we all understand what is expected when entering a Non/Qualifying Tournament and to help with prior logistics and administration, the following need to be factored into your plans. Where possible we will attempt to finish this tournament early so teams that are able to, have the option to travel home on the last day:
1. Coaches and managers are expected to attend the technical meeting usually held the night before the first day of competition
2. Only the 12 players submitted and confirmed at the technical meeting can participate in the tournament
3. Teams can expect to play 1 or 2 games a day – this includes the final day of the tournament
4. Teams can expect to play between the hours of 8am and 10pm (hours are subject to many logistical factors) - Seedings for Tournaments
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Junior Premierships/Cups
Seedings shall be based on the standing of teams from the previous year’s competition. The snake method will be used to place teams into pools.
Those that are new to the competition in 2023 will be put into pools randomly.
A/AA Tournaments
Final results from Nationals from the previous year will be used to seed the top teams from each zone, then the Qualifying Tournaments results will be used from the previous year to seed the remaining teams. For example:
- In Zone 2 AA Qualifier, Rotorua Boys will be ranked first as they finished 4th at Nationals making them the top Zone 2 team
- They will be followed by Hamilton Boys, Mount Maunganui College, St John’s College, and Fraser High – in this order, as that was their final placings at Nationals
- All other Zone 2 teams will be ranked on their Qualifier Results – i.e. Tauranga Boys 6th, Taupo-nui-a-Tia 7th, Hilcrest High 8th etc
The snake method will be used to place teams into pools.
Those that are new to the competition in 2023 will be put into pools randomly.
Nationals
The final team placings from the previous years tournament are changed from the team name, to the zone they come from, for example:
- Christs College won Boys Nationals in 2022, so Zone 4 will have the top spot for Boys Nationals in 2023
- The top spot will be taken by the first placed team at the Zone 4 boys qualifying tournament
Once all team names have been changed to the zone in which they come from, the results from each qualifying tournament will be loaded and the snake method will be used to place teams into pools.
Please note: BBNZ will establish the competition pool structure and the teams within each pool and the game schedule for all BBNZ Competitions. The structure for draws of BBNZ Competitions is subject to availability of court space, time, and the number of teams and days of the Competition. BBNZ has the right, in its complete discretion, to decide the structure, seedings and draw as required to meet the practical needs of any BBNZ Competition.
- Draws & Results
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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:
- Click on the Tshirt at the bottom of the page
- Search ‘BBNZ’ under ‘Leagues’
- Click on BBNZ Schools
- You can then find the tournament that you are wanting to follow
- Coaches Information
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It is a requirement for anyone coaching at Basketball New Zealand sanctioned events to be registered on our database and complete 3 online modules (listed below). This initiative is based on creating safer and more secure basketball environments for tamariki, rangatahi, and vulnerable adults, as well as those charged with holding a duty of care and responsibility for our participants ie BBNZ, associations, and clubs.
The process
Step 1: Register with BBNZ as a coach via The Huddle (Game Day) here. Coaches will be required to renew their registration annually.
Step 2: Complete the following three online learning modules via Sport Tutor.
- Coaching Safety Net
- Basketball New Zealand Aktive: Good Sports Foundation Modules
- Thriving Under Fire
If you have already completed these modules, you will not be required to complete them again.
We also encourage all secondary school coaches and administrators to complete the DrugFree Sport NZ Level 1 E-Learning course, that is designed for support personnel who have never received anti-doping education.
It can be found at this link here.
- Referee Information
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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.
Should you require any further information regarding this please contact our Officials Lead, Melony O’Connor – referees@nz.basketball.
- Mouthguards
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- It is compulsory for all players participating in all age grade (under 19’s and younger) competitions, leagues and tournaments run by BBNZ and its members to wear a protective mouthguard when they are on court and the game is in play
- The No Mouthguard, No Play Policy is to be firmly enforced
- Players are not permitted to share mouthguards
- Mouthguards of any colour may be worn (except in FIBA events where they must be non-coloured/transparent)
Please click here to view the BBNZ Mouthguard Policy.
- Competition Ball
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The Molten BG3800 Composite Leather Basketball is used for all school tournaments:
- Size 6 (Girls) – B6G3800
- Size 7 (Boys) – B7G3800
A reminder that if orders are received before the end of February, associations will received an additional 20% off all association pricing for selected Molten products!
Visit the BBNZ Shop to purchase basketballs for your school.
- Contact Us
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Contact email: tournaments@nz.basketball | phone: (04) 498 5950