We’re excited to launch the 2025 Winter Junior Basketball Season – and can’t wait to welcome all our players, coaches, referees, and families back for another fantastic season of hoops!
Whether it’s your child’s first season or they’re already a seasoned player, our junior comp is all about skill development, teamwork, fun, and building a lifelong love of the game.
We’ve got a great mix of returning and new players this season, and we’re proud to offer a welcoming, inclusive environment for kids of all skill levels.
Season Details:
- Competition begins: This week 02-03 May (check your game time on Basketball Connect)
- Venue: Katoomba Sports & Aquatic Centre
To ensure viable competitions in each age group, we’ve amalgamated some divisions – U12 is now mixed, and U16–18 are combined but remain separated into Girls and Boys competitions. As in the Summer season, finals will proceed based on these groupings and will not be split.
Key Reminders:
✅ All fixtures are now live on Basketball Connect
✅ All players must be registered in Basketball Connect before taking the court
🔔 Please check in with your teammates – some teams still don’t have the minimum 5 players registered. Players won’t be able to take the court if they’re not registered.
🛑 There will be no games on the 16th and 17th of May as the Ultra Trail Run uses the courts as staging area and race checkpoint.
🛜 Our website is updated regularly with news, events, updates, coaching resources and useful information. Follow us on Facebook and Instagram too.
🛍️ We have a great range of Blue Mountains Basketball apparel available on our online store. Rep your club with t-shirts, hoodies, shorts, bags and so much more.
We’d like to share a couple of changes that will occur this season:
Referee Support & Community Expectations
John has decided to step back from the weekly commitment of being our junior referee coach to free up more time to focus on his club President role to develop and grow the association. We have several exciting initiatives underway and are excited to share these with you over the coming months. We’d like to thank him for the time, support, and knowledge he’s given to our referee group over the past couple of seasons.
In his place, our 2 most senior referees will be stepping in to share the role. Brendan (currently our senior referee coach) and Bridget both bring a wealth of experience at high levels of basketball and will help mentor and support our developing officials – many of whom are teenagers learning the ropes.
In response to a few incidents that occurred toward the end of last season, we’ve also updated our referee communication protocols to help foster a safe and supportive environment for referees, players, and coaches alike. Unfortunately, these incidents have resulted in the resignation of some of our referees, and we must work together to ensure this does not continue to happen.
The updated referee communication protocols are above and will be on posters around the stadium. They outline how to raise concerns appropriately, who to speak to, and what behaviour we expect from everyone involved.
Just like players will miss defensive assignments, make bad passes, or forget to box out — referees will also make mistakes as they learn. That’s part of the process.
We’re creating an environment where it’s safe to get it wrong and grow from it, without fear of criticism, blame, or being made to feel uncomfortable. Respecting our officials is essential to making our sport enjoyable and sustainable for all.
Updated: Mercy Rule
To help keep games positive and enjoyable for all teams, we’ve made some changes to the mercy rule this season:
- Once a 20-point score margin has been established, the leading team must retreat to behind their own 3-point line after every successful basket and may not engage the offense until they have entered the front court.
- The leading team must not attempt to steal the ball from the ball carrier at any time. Pass interceptions and blocked shots are still permitted.
- If a steal occurs, the whistle will be blown, and the team that is trailing will receive an inbound play. In such cases, the ball cannot be immediately intercepted off the inbound pass.
This change has been introduced as the previous mercy rule was having unintended consequences. Teams were running into a wall of defenders at the half-way line, turning the ball over and conceding fast-breaks. This new approach will hopefully reduce those turnovers and fast break opportunities, ensuring all players, especially beginners, feel supported and valued on court.
No Zone Rule: Consistent Enforcement
Zone defence is not permitted in Under 10s, 12s and 14s competitions. This is a national rule, as the consistent use of zone defences in the younger age groups has been shown to adversely effect the development of both defensive and offensive skills.
BMBA has always followed this rule, but has not had the capability or capacity to consistently enforce it. With our new referee coaching structure, we now have the capability to enforce this consistently and will work closely with coaches to ensure it is applied fairly.
For more information on this rule please read the No Zone Rule Implementation Guide.
Get Involved!
Community sport runs on volunteers. If you’d like to coach, referee, score, or help behind the scenes, we’d love to hear from you!
Visit our Get Involved page to find out more.
That’s it for now! We’re looking to increase the amount of communication you receive this season to help keep everyone informed and connected. Most updates will come through Basketball Connect, so please make sure you have notifications turned on in the app to stay up to date.
Thanks for being part of our basketball community – here’s to a fun, safe, and exciting season ahead.
See you courtside!
