To All Secondary Schools

 

On behalf of the Basketball Zealand Tournaments Team we hope your School enjoyed their basketball year.  As the year comes to a close, we are in our planning phase for 2017.  After consulting with NZSSSC, the details outline below identifies reminders and updates that will take affect for the 2017 Secondary Schools basketball season:

 

Calendar

A copy of the updated 2017 BBNZ Tournaments Calendar and Harmonised Calendar can be found on the BBNZ website link http://www.basketball.org.nz/Competitions/Resources under the 2017 Tournaments Calendar heading or on the Events section of the NZSSSC website.  Please disregard any previous versions of these calendars and use this  latest version, as at 7 December 2016. 

 

For your reference, the updated changes to the Tournaments Calendar are outlined below:

•          Secondary Schools due dates have changed with the introduction of two dates.  Refer to the footer of the tournaments calendar to view the items due per date.
•          The A Secondary Schools North Island Premierships dates have changed to September 6-8.  This tournament has been reduced to three days to cater for those Schools who wish to attend both the Junior and Senior Tournament.  As mentioned in a previous distributed email, the dates changed due to venue availability.

 

3x3 National Slam

In the email below is the 2017 Secondary Schools 3x3 National Slam link to our website.  Changes have been made to the NZSSSC player eligibility with the introduction of a New To School quota.  This tournament will be hosted by Tauranga City Basketball Association and we hope to see many Schools attend as this tournament grows.

 

Referees

A reminder that at all junior, A and AA premierships (qualifying and non-qualifying) tournaments Schools must supply a student referee as a condition of registering a team. ‘No ref, no play’.

 

The referee must be suitably experienced and fully committed to attending the tournament for the entire duration.  All costs associated with taking the referee to the tournament will be the Schools responsibility.  No game fees will be paid.

 

Where Schools require assistance to train students they should, in the first instance, contact their local basketball association. Given the growth of basketball in schools, the increasing number of teams and tournaments at school level this is beginning to pose a real challenge in terms of  referee numbers. 

 

The student referee initiative is designed to support this ongoing growth in the school sector and is considered an appropriate opportunity for both the sport and the school sector to work together in supporting increased opportunity for students.

 

Roster Changes

A reminder that no players can be added to the first scoresheet of the tournament.  If there are any roster changes, these must be submitted to the BBNZ office by the due date. 

 

If there are last minute changes to your roster due to injuries, these changes must be submitted at the technical meeting.  Failing to submit new changes could result in those players being ineligible to participate in the tournament.

 

Entry Fee

A small increase to the Premiership Tournaments (by $50+GST) entry fee has been made.  This fee level applies across all events of this nature. This will help absorb the increased expenses which BBNZ has had to accept.  The entry fee for 2017 Premiership Tournaments will therefore be $600+GST per team.

 

Junior Premiership

To align  the  Junior Secondary School competitions we have removed the age from the following regulation:

•          Current regulation:  Only Year 9 and 10 students who are under the age of 16 as at the 31^st December 2015 are eligibility to play – no Year 7 and 8 players.
•          Updated regulation: Only Year 9 and 10 students are eligibility to play – no Year 7 and 8 players.

 

Due Dates & Waiting List

To encourage Schools to complete the registration process in a timely manner, we have introduced two due dates for all junior, A and AA premierships (qualifying and non‑qualifying) tournaments:

•          1^st Due Date - Wednesday, June 28 the School must complete the team, player, referee online registration and entry fee deposit of $200+GST (Schools can choose to pay in full)
•          2^nd Due Date - Wednesday, August 2 the School must provide a completed paper roster form and pay the remaining entry fee $400+GST.

 

By providing all the details and payments by these due dates will ensure your registration into your chosen tournament.  By schools meeting these due dates it enables BBNZ to meet our requirements with tournament hosts, suppliers, eligibility checks and publishing draws on time.

 

Registrations received after the first due date will need to register onto theonline waiting list which was introduced this year.  Please note that there is no guarantee that your registration will be accepted once registered onto the waiting list.  Notification will be provided once all the on time registrations are processed and only if there is space available in the tournament.

 

Withdrawals

Teams that withdraw from a premiership tournament or who decide not to attend the National Championship place unwanted pressure on administrators and tournament hosts.  This is administratively time consuming and disruptive to all involved. 

 

We have introduced the following process to discourage Schools from withdrawing or non-attendance at a National Championship:

•          Schools that withdraw their team(s) after the first due date or after qualifying for the national championship won’t be guaranteed a place in a tournament the following year.  Regardless if the  registration has been completed by the due date and payment is made in full in the following year, the registration will be placed on the waiting list.  As mentioned above, notification will be provided once all the on time registrations are processed and only if  there is space available in the tournament.

 

This process is to help Schools ensure that you are organised and have registered into the correct tournament.  If your intentions are not to attend the National Championships, your School needs to register into the non-qualifying tournament. 

 

The only exception is where a non-qualifying tournament does not go ahead, not offered or the attempt to fit you into another non-qualifying tournament was not successful.

 

School Contacts

To ensure that BBNZ is able to keep your School up to date with relevant basketball information, please keep us informed with any personnel and contact changes.  Email through as many contacts as you wish to guarantee that your Schools receives our details and updates.

 

From Basketball New Zealand and all our Associations, we hope that 2016 was a memorable year and that you all have a very Merry Christmas and safe New Year.

 

Kind regards

 

Maree Taylor | Tournaments and Leagues Manager | Basketball New Zealand

DDI:+64 (0) 4 985967 | Mobile:+64 (0) 27 6875383 | Fax: +64 (0) 4 4723623
Level 1, 55 Abel Smith Street, 6011 |PO Box 6052, Marion Square, 6141, Wellington NZ