BMBA Games Program – BMBA Basketball – building better players, mentoring better people

BMBA Games Program

Introduction

The Bob Mann Basketball Academy is excited to announce that it will be building and launching junior competitions for both junior boys and junior girls competitions from term four in 2024. We will be conducting these competitions at the state of the art Margaret Connellan Stadium located within the Stonnington Sports Centre.

Both Boys and Girls competitions will be conducted on Saturdays from 4:00pm onwards. We will be looking to conduct competitions in the Under 10, Under 12, Under 14, Under 16 and Under 18 age groups.

Margaret Connellan Stadium

Margaret Connellan Stadium is located within the brand new Stonington Sports Centre. The stadium is a state of the art four court venue.

It’s an indoor venue with a great timber floors, modern backboards and the outstanding ringleader backboard and ring systems on every court. All four courts have plenty of run-off space around the court and have plenty of seating for both parents and players to see games. There is plenty of car parking with much of it undercover.

The venue is located directly opposite to the Chadstone shopping centre, has a cafe area and upstairs have a social function area.

We are excited to use this facility for competitions and games and even more excited to provide the opportunity for boys and girls to play our great sport in such a great venue.

Competitions and Age Groups

We will be conducting our competitions under the below format.

Boys competitions to be held on Saturdays

Girls competitions to be held on Sundays

Age groups to be offered – Under 10’s, Under 12’s, Under 14’s, Under 16’s and Under 18’s.

The cut-off date for player eligibility for competitions will 31st of December 2025.

Game Structure

All our games will be played with a 60 minute schedule which is between 20 to 15 minutes longer court time than at any other Association.

Games will consist of four 10 minute quarters with the clock stopping on every time-out and whistle called in the last minute of the second quarter and the last two minutes of the last quarter.

For the the Under 16 and Under 18 age groups shot clock will be in use where possible.

This a a unique structure not offered anywhere else that encourages player development and ensures fairness in match results.

Competition Rules

Games will be played according to FIBA rules, alongside unique BMBA by-laws. These by-laws will include the below.

Zone defences will be banned in the Under 10, Under 12 and Under 14 Age groups and only allowed in the second half of Under 16 Age groups.

A fall back rule will be implemented in the Under 10 and Under 12 age groups when teams are 15 points ahead.

In Under 10’s a scoring restriction of 12 points per player will be implmented to encourage teamwork.

These rules are designed for player development, education and enjoyment and to develop the principals of teamwork and sportsmanship. Our coaches and referees will be under strict instruction to observe them. A full set of by-laws will be available to schools, teams and individuals one they register.

Coaches and referees

The BMBA will be providing ALL coaches and referees for these competitions.

These individuals will be employed and trained by the BMBA to provide the best possible service with game and skill development for our junior participants a priority. All we need is for interested players to either form their teams or express an interest as an individual in playing. From that point we will then look after the rest.

We look to recruit both coaches and referees who have experience in the game from a variety of sources, They must have a great attitude, great enthusiasm, great communication skills and great respect and love for the game and it’s participants.

Forming Teams

Teams can be formed in a number of ways.

The easiest way is to form teams from schools, but that isn’t always possible. Nearby schools could work together to form combined teams, or individuals can already join established teams.

We don’t really care how kids get to play as long as they get to play. We will soon be putting up an expression of interest form on this page and on this website, where schools, teams and individuals can register their interest in registering as a team or as an individual to join a team.

Once registered the BMBA then looks after all the administrative tasks, coaching appointments, training arrangements and uniform orders.

Uniforms

All teams will play under the BMBA banner and unless arranged through the school and the BMBA, all our teams will wear the BMBA uniform. These uniforms are reversible tops ensuring that there are no clashes. The uniforms are of a high quality and look great and most importantly are great to play in.

For the really keen there will be extra merchandise available once a uniform is bought.

The benefits of players wearing the same uniform are: –

They are easily transferable when players switch teams and age groups.

The can be easily on-sold to new players looking for cheaper second hand uniforms.

It creates a sense of a family culture within our competitions, where everybody is working towards a common goal.

When/if representative teams are formed players will and families will not have to buy another uniform or kit.

Finals Tournament

Another unique feature of our BMBA competitions is that all teams will get to play finals.

This is too encourage coaches to develop players and teams during a season rather than being consumed by ladder positions and wins. Ladder positions will instead be put toward ranking placements for these end of season finals. Finals are then played on a knockout basis, where the teams that have been coached and developed the best throughout a season will ultimately have the best chance of taking out the end of season knockout tournament. This has a number of benefits.

» All teams and players will be continually developed throughout a season

» Coaches will be encouraged to teach and experiment with things they normally wouldn’t for fear of incurring a loss.

» The season will remain “live” for every team for the entirety of the season, ensuring “every’ game has some purpose behind it.

» Players will have the encouragement to continually improve their game even if things don’t go as hoped during the season.

The end of season tournament is just a lot of fun that brings everybody together, provides some great upsets, some exciting games and high level of basketball.

WE CAN’T WAIT FOR OUR FIRST TOURNAMENT.