REGISTRATIONS CLOSED

Click on one of the clubs below to get more information about that club. If you are seeking late entry to any of the clubs then you will need to contact them directly about any additional space. There is some limited availability and we will do our best to accommodate all enquiries.

BTAC BLUE JAYS CITY LIMITS LAKERS MACQUARIE PORT HUNTER WEST

2024 McDONALD JONES HOMES WINTER CLUB COMPETITION

Newcastle Basketball wishes to thank you for your patience as we look to announce the 2024 MJH Winter Club Competition season format. As previous members would be aware this competition is extremely popular, and we often see a very quick registration period with some age groups and genders closing extremely quickly. The association and clubs have agreed to certain criteria and timeframes as listed below which will assist in prioritising registrations and trying to ensure as smooth a period as possible.

Criteria for prioritising registrations:

2024 Representative Program Participation
History with the club/association
Vacancies with age groups, genders, divisions, and teams

In efforts to ensure a fair distribution of players across all age groups, genders, and clubs and to ensure that we don’t go over capacity limits we will be implementing a restriction on the number of initial registrations. We understand this may lead to some individuals being placed on the waiting list. We ask that whilst you are on the waiting the list you do not pay any fees for either the competition, uniform, or annual membership until you receive an invitation to a club.

The clubs and the association have agreed to the initial registration team limits:

We do hope that after the initial registration period that the number of teams for each club in each age group may increase.

Competition Fees:

In 2024 the competition fees will be set to $280 This doesn’t however include the Annual Membership Fee which must be paid by every player. Your registration is only confirmed once payment of the $280 has been received and you have an active annual membership with Basketball NSW & Newcastle Basketball. You will receive a receipt at time of registration that will confirm that the payment has been made. You can also check your annual membership expiry date by visiting member.basketball.net.au.

Annual membership Fees:

How to Register:

The McDonald Jones Homes Winter Club Competition is an individual registration only process we don’t accept individual teams entering. Every player must register to one of the six clubs that are associated with Newcastle Basketball. When registering players will be provided an opportunity to put in special requests and playing history. This information will support each of the clubs in developing their teams for the season. Please note that whilst this information is accepted at time of registration it doesn’t guarantee that we will be able to adhere to all requests. All clubs will consider and do their best within the constraints of the competition.

Pending your position within the timeline below the following will apply:

Players who are eligible to register on the 26th of February will have an email sent to their primary email address which is allocated to their Game Day profile. This email will contain a specific link that players will require to use to complete their registration. This link will not be for public distribution and is only for the recipient outlined on the email.

New players will be able to access links on this page as of March 5. There will be notification across social media and Newcastle Basketball platforms advising that registrations are now open.

Registration Timeline:

Please find a timeline below of when registrations will open for specific players:

2023 Winter Club Returning Players Monday 26th of February 2024

From here we will work with all clubs around the following timeframes. Please note that timeframes may change as age groups and genders reach capacity. If an age group or gender does reach capacity, then the 2024 Waiting List will be activated. The activation of the waiting list will be based on the restrictions on registrations. Once players join the waiting list, we will endeavor to create opportunities to increase the competition size to get players off the waiting list.

Registration for New Players Monday 4th of March 2024

It is our assumption that the competition will reach capacity by March 8th, 2024. If this is the case, then we will work on the following timeframes to help streamline the waiting list:

First Round Offers will be emailed to successful players on Friday 15th of March.
These players will have till 5pm Monday 18th of March to accept the offer
Second round and remaining offers will be emailed as of Friday 22nd of March. When you receive this offer, you will have 48 hours to complete the registration to confirm your acceptance with the club that offers you a position.

We will aim to send out offers every 2 days for the remainder of March and early April until the competition reaches maximum capacity.

If capacity hasn’t been reached registrations will officially close on March 27th. This will then give our clubs time to create teams and nominate them into the competition. Please note that our clubs will need to have all team nominations completed by April 10th so that competition fixtures can be generated.

Switching Clubs:

To help improve processes and to try and streamline registrations in 2024 the registration forms and products have restrictions on them. Should players want to consider transferring between clubs then they need to adhere to the following:

Representative & Academy Players
Players in the 2024 Newcastle Falcons Representative or Falcons Academy programs are not eligible to transfer between clubs. They must register to the club they receive an invitation to which will be the club they played with in season 2023. If they are new to the program then they will be allocated to a club by Newcastle Basketball. Newcastle Basketball will allocate players to a club that best suits the needs of the competition with the focus being to create a competitive and even competition across the clubs. There are at times special considerations for players within the representative or academy program where a player needs to switch clubs. If they need a special consideration then they need to email competitions@newcastlebasketball.com.au after registering to the club they received an invitation. Any emails should include as much reasoning and supportive material as possible. These requests will then be reviewed in consultation with the clubs and the competition balance.
Club/Domestic Only Players
Any player who only plays within the club competition to which the association commonly refers to as ‘domestic’ players can switch between clubs without seeking permission to transfer. Due to the restrictions on the registration forms anyone wanting to switch clubs will only be able to do so after registrations open to the public on March 5. Please note that any club or domestic players wont be able to transfer between clubs should they register to an incorrect club or change their mind as to their preferred club.

Season Competition Information:

Training Commences Week Beginning April 22
Round 1: Week Beginning April 29
Semi Finals: Week beginning September 16
Grand Finals: Week beginning September 23

Please note there will be no games or training through the July School Holidays (6th – 19th July).
We will also not be playing matches on Tuesday May 28, Wednesday May 29, Friday June 7 and Monday June 10.

Age Group allocations for season 2024:

Under 12s – 2013 & 2014
Under 14s – 2011 & 2012
Under 16s – 2009 & 2010
Under 18s – 2007 & 2008

All players must register to the age group that best suits them above. Players are not eligible to play in the age group above or below without applying for special consideration. Special considerations will only be done after the player is registered and only if competition capacities allow.
Representative and Academy players are not eligible to apply for a special consideration.

Club Training Venues:

Clubs have been pre-emptively allocated to the following training venues to start allocating teams to training. The clubs will at their discretion negotiate swaps or alternative training times. Trainings are subject to change if stadium availability changes.

BTAC – Bishop Tyrrell Anglican College (as set by the school)
City Limits – Newcastle Basketball Stadium (Saturday 12pm – 8pm)
Lakers – Macquarie College (Sunday 1pm – 9pm) & Hunter Sports High (Monday 4.30pm – 9.30pm)
Macquarie – Newcastle Basketball Stadium (Sunday 1pm – 9pm)
Port Hunter – Howzat & YWCA (Monday to Friday 4pm – 9pm)
West – Newcastle Basketball Stadium (Sunday 1pm – 9pm, Potential Weekday slot TBC)

Should teams elect to train at alternate venues to the ones allocated to their club then they will need to liaise with their club including venue, time and any insurance documents.

Allocation of Competition Nights:

There is no guarantee of what night each competition will be played until we have received all team nominations, and we can start generating appropriate fixtures. Should a player be allocated to a night that they become unavailable for then Newcastle Basketball will refund competition fees paid. The forecasted night allocations for season 2024 are below. We will do our best to work towards what is delivered below but ultimately venue availability and competition size will determine the competition nights.

We are aiming to have fixtures generated by the 19th of April 2024.

Uniforms:

You will be allocated a singlet by your club for season 2024. This singlet will be distributed on night one of competition. This singlet must be returned to Newcastle Basketball at seasons end. If you do not return your singlet, you may incur a $50 fine.
All other items of uniform need to be purchased through the Cliq website with further information about shorts and merchandise to come.

Coaches & Managers:

It will be the responsibility of the team to provide a coach and manager where the club is unable to do so. The competition runs heavily on a volunteer support. Clubs will put out an expression of interest out for anyone interested in being a coach or manager for the season. Your roles will to assist with supporting the communication between clubs, players and association. Coaches will also be provided with an opportunity to complete a free coaching course run by Newcastle Basketball. Further details about this coaching course will come in the coming weeks.

Competition Timeslots & Venues:

Newcastle Basketball will be again running its Winter Club Competition across three venues and 6 timeslots (4pm – 9.30pm). We will try to rotate teams across the venues and timeslots with fixtures to be produced where possible ahead of schedule.

Newcastle Basketball – 27 Young Rd, Broadmeadow
Macquarie College – 182-222 Lake Rd, Wallsend NSW 2287
Hunter Sports High – 2A Pacific Hwy, Gateshead NSW 2290

Grading will occur at the conclusion of the fifth round of competition. This may take some time to get the fixtures completed. If a team must move between nights of competition, we do have to wait until the conclusion of both nights of competition to make any changes. Teams and players will have information communicated about changes by their clubs as soon as possible.

Withdrawals & Refunds:

Newcastle Basketball is committed to doing our best to accommodate all players and we hope that the above will assist with people understanding what this competition is about. However, we do understand at times players may need to withdraw from the competition at any point. Should a player withdraw at any point of the competition they may be eligible for a full or part refund of the competition fees. This will be determined by the point of withdrawal looking specifically at: Registration Status, Games Played, Games Remaining and Attendance overall.

Please note that the Basketball NSW and Newcastle Basketball Annual memberships are non-refundable once a player takes the court and participates in any competition or training activities. The membership will remain active on the members profile for 365 days from the time of purchase.

All staff and volunteers will be working extremely hard to ensure the competition runs as smoothly as possible. We hope that most questions can be answered using the information above but appreciate that some people may have additional questions. We ask for some patience as we work through the significant number of enquiries that are expected because of the competition registration process. Response times may become slightly longer than what we hope to achieve but we will get back to enquiries as soon as possible.

Kind Regards,

Elyse Hicks
Basketball Manager
on behalf of Newcastle Basketball and the Clubs

Any questions should be directed to your club or competitions@newcastlebasketball.com.au