To our Parents, Guardians and especially our Members and Coaches,
Welcome to the 2019 season which this year will begin on the weekend of 22-23 March, with four weeks of games, followed by school holidays and Easter all in one, with the season then continuing on the weekend of 3-4 May – U8’s will commence the week of 30 April.
This will be my last year as President and I am keen to finish off the work we have started and provide a solid foundation for those that follow. To that end I am very happy to highlight the following: • The Lavalla Hall basketball fit out is now completed and ready for our use. This will be focused on U8’s and Miniball to provide extra training sessions, including potential games or comps for U8’s. • We will be aiming to move to a Digital Club model with everything on-line - we welcome people who can support this initiative. • We will be providing balls at each training location such that every child will have the right size ball available to them for training. • We will look to grow our initial specialist coaching sessions to also include school holidays with a focus on U14’s through U18’s, both boys and girls. • We will continue to increase investment in coaching mentors and development of ‘Raiders’ syllabus and game plan – this includes on-line drills and skills • We are looking to expand court access for training for all teams • We will add additional components to our U8 Competition to include ad hoc games through access to the new Lavalla Hall basketball centre. Key dates to kick off the 2019 season will be (see separately provided Raiders Calendar): • Registrations Open – Wed, 23 Jan 19 • WABL tryouts – Thu, 31 Jan 19 (invite only) • HAWKS Association Beginner’s Referee course – FRI, 1 Feb 19 from 9am to 1pm (Bendat). • BWA FREE coaches clinic – Sat, 9 Feb 19 (Bendat Basketball Centre) • Registrations Close – Mon, 18 Feb 19 • Grading Weekend (U12 Girls and above, U14 Boys and above) – Sat-Sun, 23-24 Feb 19 • Team Notifications – Wed, 6 Mar 19 • Training Starts – Week of 11 Mar 19 • Singlet Collection Day – Sat, 16 Mar 19 • Season starts – Fri-Sat, 22-23 Mar 19 • U8’s Season starts – 30 Apr 19 (after school holidays)
Player Fees this year will be as follows: • Basketball WA Fee - $30 (New – see below) • Hawks Fee - $140 • Raiders Fees: $170 (reduction of $10), U8’s Only ($120 – a reduction of $60) • Total cost (per child): $340 ($20 increase), U8’s TBA as Hawks fees being reviewed.
The overall fee is still in line with many other winter and summer sports and certainly significantly less than soccer and similar sports. The new $30 fee has been imposed by Basketball WA as a player registration fee – its purpose is to provide greater investment in growth and innovation in basketball, noting this was underfunded. Additional detail on this fee is provided at: http://websites.sportstg.com/get_file.cgi?id=36508629 . The Hawks registration fee of $140 is intended to cover the cost of week to week operation of the competition, court hire, referees, a portion of the games controller and first aid that they provide. All of these costs have risen over the past few years, however, Hawks have chosen to keep that fee as is as due to the increased fee introduced by BWA.
We will continue to refine our grading and team selection process, leveraging the system used last year, with trials held over the weekend of 23-24 Feb 19. For this we will focus on only grading the top 3 divisions (not just the top 3 teams), with pre-nominated sides being mandated for mid and lower level grades. The refinement for this year is that all team details, grades and finishing spots were recorded at the end of last year’s season, and therefore we will provide a list of all people who must attend grading.
All players who played in U14’s through U18’s Division 1 through Division 3 last year will be listed for grading. Any other player who wants to be graded is encouraged to attend grading. Pre-nominated teams for these higher grades will not be accepted. Any players who played in lower grades may opt to create a team in which all players must be aware of their nomination and include a coach and manager (same as for U12 boys and below today). We will continue our focus on girls basketball, with grading starting in U12, given thesmaller numbers, and our focus on increasing their membership.
Team nominations should be sent to our registrar, Chris Giddens, via his e-mail: registerraiders@gmail.com
Raiders apparel will continue to be available in 2019 and will include hoodies, scarfs, and our beanies. These items will be displayed for sizing on the shirt selection day and available for order on the day.
Details on Hawks playing conditions and rules can be found on their website at: http://www.hawksbasketball.com.au/about-our-junior-competition/
The Hawks competition, for which Raiders are one of the largest clubs, has teams playing in from 8 years and U10 (Miniball); U10 (full basketball rules); U12; U14; U16; U18; U20 (girls only).
Playing times are generally as follows: • Girls U14 & U16 play on Friday evenings along with our Miniball Girls teams. • Our U12 Girls play after 2pm on Saturday to enable them to play netball as well. • Some of our other MB & U12 teams are rotated through Friday nights. • Other ages and boys all play on Saturdays from 8am through to 6 pm.
Games are played at primarily played at the Bendat Basketball Centre (201 Underwood Avenue, FLOREAT) with overflow games being played at Lords (3 Price St, Subiaco).
Games are generally played on the first Saturday of School holidays but not the middle Friday/Saturday or the last Friday/Saturday of school holidays. We will provide information to parents for the U8 competition in the next month or so, noting Hawks are reviewing this program (we are a part of this review), along with the addition of our new Lavalla Hall facility to provide additional capacity to support our U8’s, including year 1 teams. To achieve the goals and objectives of Raiders we need a strong and committed group of volunteers to lead the club through this important period. Our committee is structured around five core functions – Operations, Coaching, Marketing, Uniforms, and Apparel. Each of these core functions has a sub-committee team run by the functional lead, and I would like to thank our multiple volunteers here. We are still looking for more members for vacant positions on our and sub-committee teams, so please look to volunteer to support your club by contacting me directly, or one of our existing committee members via their contact details on our website. In particular we are looking for volunteers with social media, marketing and IT skills, to assist us in achieving our goal of becoming a digital club by 2019.
We are also always looking for more coaches and managers, so please do not hesitate to step up and take a role. Training for both positions is provided, with formal and informal coaching training provided and funded via the club (including formal certifications).
It is going to be another big year for Raiders in 2019, and hopefully this gives you a sense of what is planned. Please do not hesitate to visit our Raiders Website at: http://www.nhrraiders.com.au/
I look forward to seeing many of you during the year. Please do not hesitate to contact me or one of our team should you have any suggestions, issues or clarifications.
Welcome and good luck to you all in 2019. Go Raiders!!
Gary Hale President NHR Raiders Basketball Club M: 0400 720-740 E: garyhale@ozemail.com.au W:www.raidersbasketball.club