Hello all 

Some updates on a number of recently made decisions. 

Under 13 Nationals

The 2014 under 13 Nationals will be the last for this age group.  From 2015 they will be replaced with three regional Championships – the ‘Northern Under 13 Basketball Championships’ (zones 1 and 2), the ‘Central Under 13 Basketball Championships’ (zones 3 and 4) and the ‘South Island Under 13 Basketball Championships’ (zones 5 and 6).  Names to be finalised at a later date. 

These regional Championships are still ‘rep’ events and all teams must be entered by BBNZ Associations only. We envision that each zone will determine the number of rep teams they wish to enter – Associations may enter more than one rep team and we would encourage this so that more players can gain a taste of playing rep basketball and also the experience of a major tournament environment.  Individual schools may not be entered as a ‘rep’ team – these are not school events.  Timing will continue to be October holidays. 

The possibility of changing the age criterion to align with the school years (years 7 and 8) instead of the current definition of under 13 was considered.  At this stage it has been agreed that we will continue with the under 13 definition on the basis that it aligns with the under 15, under 17, etc structure that we have for Nationals. 

The reasons under-pinning this decision included – a desire to increase the number of young players involved at this age, a desire to reduce the cost on Associations and parents of competing at this age, an encouragement to greater numbers of players of this age to continue with their rep aspirations, etc. 

Further details will be advised later in the year. 

Other Nationals

The other Nationals, timing and format will be reviewed at the completion of this years events. 

National Age Group Teams

From 2015 the focus at the national representative level (apart from Tall Blacks and Tall Ferns) will be the under 17 and under 19 age groups as well as continuing with efforts to make our mark in 3x3.  This is consistent with the move by FIBA to move New Zealand into a new FIBA qualifying zone – Asia Oceania.  This move to Asia Oceania opens up opportunities for New Zealand to qualify for the under 17 and under 19 World Cup events held every second year (alternatively).  In the past we have failed to qualify for these events when we have had to beat Australia to do so. 

We understand that the new system will be in place for 2016 so we need to commence with our changes to align with this as soon as possible. 

From now on the World Cup qualifiers and the World Cup events will be the pinnacle events we will focus our energies on – the Australian State Championships will only be entered if they are considered an appropriate preparation event for the pinnacle events – except for the under 16 State Championships which are considered the entry point for international basketball for the New Zealand talent development programme. 

This means we will appoint under 17 coaches (boys and girls) and under 19 coaches (men and women) and these coaches will be responsible for a two year process to qualify for their respective World Cup events.  When successful the coaches will, subject to review, be responsible for a further year up to and including competing at the World Cup (a two plus one year term of appointment). 

The under 17 World Cup qualifiers in 2015 will be the last of the old system where we have to compete within Oceania and beat Australia to qualify.  In this case we will appoint coaches on a one plus one year basis (one to qualify and if successful one to compete at the 2016 World Cup).  After that the two plus one system as described above will apply. 

As the under 16 team will, in every second year, be the feeder for the under 17 team our view at this stage is that the under 16 ‘coach’ will come from within the under 17 coaching staff – the senior assistant.  This will be further discussed with the successful under 17 appointee. 

This means that in 2015 we will have;

Under 16 teams – pinnacle event the Australian State Champs

Under 17 teams – pinnacle event the Oceania World Cup Qualifiers

Under 19 squads commencing the next under 19 World Cup cycle (aged under 18) – no pinnacle event, and

Ideally Under 19 teams competing at the World Cup should they win the Oceania Series in December.  If they don’t qualify we wont have these teams (they are under 20’s in our language but under 19 in FIBA language). 

3x3

We are aiming to appoint a 3x3 Head Coach who will oversee the development of our 3x3 national teams over the next two years.  If necessary we will appoint an assistant to help manage teams as ideally we will build to the point where we have teams competing at the FIBA under 18 World Cups and the FIBA World Cups for men and women. 

Appointment Processes.

We will advertise the under 17 roles this month.  The successful Head Coaches will participate in the subsequent appointment of their assistants and managers.  The terms will be one plus one as described above. 

We will advertise the under 19 roles towards the end of 2014 as the incumbents have their pinnacle events in December.  Their terms will be two plus one as described above.  These appointments kick off the new Asia Oceania cycle. 

We will advertise the 3x3 role following completion of the Youth Olympic Games. 

We will advertise the Tall Blacks and Tall Fern roles early in 2015 once we know what financial support we can expect from High Performance Sport New Zealand. 

Overall these decisions mean we will have fewer national teams – but we will have every chance of seeing those teams qualify for and compete at World Cups – very exciting!  Yes we have to look at how we fund good preparation, yes that remains a challenge – and yes we can do it. 

Regards 

Iain

 

 

Iain Potter | Chief Executive | Basketball New Zealand

Phone: +64 (0) 4 498 5955| Fax: +64 (0) 4 472 3623
Level 4, 3-9 Church Street, 6011 | PO Box 6052, Marion Square, 6141, Wellington NZ

Web:www.basketball.org.nz