School Prems – AA National Qualifiers
AA Premiership national qualifying tournament organised by Basketball New Zealand, and hosted by local associations, for larger secondary schools around the country. Schools should have a roll of more than 300 students (in Years 9-13, as at 1st of March in the year of the competition) for a single sex school, or more than 600 students (in Years 9-13, as at 1st of March in the year of the competition) 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)
AA 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).
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
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 for the 2025 Winter Tournament Week are now open and will close on Friday 18 July.
AA Premierships Team Registration Form
2025 Secondary Schools Player Registration Form
Registrations are now open and will close on Friday 18 July
Current Team Registrations for our AA Premierships will be updated here periodically
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
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
