2024/2025 Junior Teams Announcement

Thank you for your for your time throughout try-outs and for choosing to trial at Altona. We appreciate it can be a stressful process for athletes and families and are grateful for the time you have given up over the last few weeks.

We are pleased to announce the teams for the 2024/2025 Season. The team lists can be accessed here:

• Girls Teams
• Boys Teams

 

For players who have been successful, congratulations on your team selection. We are pleased to welcome back our existing gators family members and welcome our newcomers for the 2024/2025 Representative Season.

For players who were not selected, we thank you for your time during the selections. We appreciate you may be disappointed and encourage you to continue to develop your basketball and hope your basketball journey may continue. You are welcome to join development programs run by the club throughout the year.

Please note that players have been placed into squads and these may be subject to change prior to the first round of grading once the practice games are completed. Teams can also be changed prior to the second grading phase which commences in January 2025.

Teams who do not have coaches, will not proceed if a coach is not sourced. Given coaches who have children in the age group do not attend trials, there are teams who will shortly have coaches allocated. Nonetheless, if you are interested in coaching, please contact our Director of Coaching, Randy Shanklin ([email protected]).

Emergency Players

• In the event a player does not accept their position, an emergency player will be contacted to take up a position in the team. Emergency players are not required to attend training in the interim.

 

Development players

Under 12s will have development squads. If you are listed under the development squad, you are invited to attend a session on next Sunday, 10am at the Altona Sports Centre. These athletes will be considered for selection for development teams who will train each Sunday and play 3-4 tournaments throughout the year. This provides athletes with the opportunity to be a part of the gator’s family, receive further coaching without the full rep basketball commitment.

If you have been selected for the development squad and do not wish to be a part of the development squad, please email [email protected]

What’s Next

Registration & Fees

• If you wish to accept your place in a team, you are required to register through Play HQ by 5:00pm on Tuesday, 15 October 2024. Please ensure you register at the link specific to your team, as outlined on the team announcements. It is important that you register within this timeframe to ensure we can complete our team entries. You are required to pay a $25.00 which is non-refundable to secure your position.
• If you do not wish to accept your place, please fill out the following form by 5:00pm on Tuesday, 15 October 2024. This allows the spot to be offered to another player, your cooperation in providing your response, would be appreciated.
  • https://form.jotform.com/Altona_Gators/non-acceptance
• If you do not register in time, you will not receive important communications from the club. Please make sure your contact details are correct when registering, as these will be used to contact you going forward. Please check your promotions/other folder to in case our emails are sent there. If you would like to add another parent to the club’s communication list, please provide the contact details in this jot form:
  • https://form.jotform.com/Altona_Gators/player-comms

Fees

• The fees for the 2024/2025 season will be $750 including GST if paid in full by 1 December 2024 or $800 including GST if paid in two instalments as follows:
  • 1st Instalment $400 due 1 December 2024
  • Final Instalment $400 due 16 February 2025
• Each player will receive an invoice for payment of fees in the coming weeks. If a player’s fees are not paid by the above mentioned instalment dates and in full by 16 February 2025, they will not be able to play until the outstanding fees are paid.
• This fee amount includes VJBL team registration, training including Sunday and mid-week training during school terms, entry to one tournament, coaching, administration and development.
• In addition, you are required to contribute to the team sheet each week which will be approximately, $15 per player per week. There will be no stadium entry fees for players or parents on a Friday night.
• If you have already paid your Basketball Victoria and Basketball Australia annual participation license, you will only have to pay the $25.00 registration fee to accept your place. If you have not already paid for your annual participation licenses, you will also be required to pay the annual registration to Basketball Victoria and Basketball Australia upon registration. The annual participation license covers all participation (playing and refereeing) across the state during a 365-day period. For example, it covers you for representative and domestic. When you log into the Play HQ platform it will notify you if you have paid this fee.
• Please register through your team registration link as outlined in the announcement.

 

Clearances

If you require a clearance from your previous club, this will be initiated through the Player Registration process. Clearances must be obtained prior to the first Grading Game, however we recommend you request them as soon as possible.

Training

Training for all teams commences this week. Each teams allocated training time is listed next to your team allocation. These session times are for this week only. Your teams ongoing training times will be confirmed later this week.

All training for this week will take place at the Altona Sports Centre.

Practice Games

• Our teams will play practice games as follows:
  • 20 October 2024 v Hawthorn (Girls at Altona, Boys at Hawthorn)
  • 25 October 2024 v Waverly (Girls at Altona, Boys at Waverly)
  • 1 November 2024 v Coburg (All teams at home)
  • 8 November 2024 v Whittlesea (Girls at Whittlesea)
• The fixture for the Hawthorn games will be released by Wednesday evening.
• Each player who does not currently have a playing uniform will be provided a loaner singlet prior to their first practice game. Players will need to wear black shorts without pockets, if you do not have Gator’s shorts, or alternatively shorts without pockets, for example your domestic shorts.
• After the practice games, we will enter four weeks of grading games commencing on 15 November 2024. Grading will resume in February 2025 and the Championship season will commence in March 2024.

The VJBL season calendar outlines all important dates for the season and can be found here.

It is expected that players attend all training and games. In the event you are unable to attend, you must notify your coach well in advance. Players who consistently miss training and or games, will not be able to continue in the program.

Parent Information Session & Hand book

• We request all parents read the Altona Gators Player and Parent Handbook.
• We will also be holding a parent information session as follows:
• Session 1
  • Date: Monday, 21 October 2024
  • Time: 6:30-7:30pm
  • Under 12s & 14s
• Session 2
  • Date: Monday, 28 October 2024
  • Time: 6:30-7:30pm
• Both Sessions by Zoom.
• Parents must attend at a session.

Uniforms

• We are pleased to announce IAthletic is our new supplier of junior uniforms. After a successful roll out of our senior uniforms last season, our juniors will also be wearing the new design. Dates and times for each teams uniform fitting and details of uniforms packs, will be distributed later in the week, once ongoing training times are confirmed.
• The club will be providing a $100 rebate to each player who was a registered gators player for the 2023/2024 VJBL season. Accordingly, when you purchase a uniform for an existing player, you will received a $100 voucher towards your purchase to show our appreciation to your commitment to our club and we hope this lightens the load a little for your family.

Code of Conduct

• All players and parents are required to adhere to the Basketball Victoria Code of Conduct. We request that you read these codes carefully prior to the commencement of the season. They can be accessed here.
• The VJBL also have strict behavioural policies and technical foul policy which you should familiarise yourself with.
• Child safety is of upmost importance. As a Basketball Victoria Affiliated Club, we adhere to the Basketball Victoria Child Safeguarding Policy. For any questions, with respect to child safety, please contact [email protected].
• As a club, we do not tolerate unsportsmanlike behaviour. If you wish to join the gator’s family, you must ensure you treat others with respect and abide by the codes.

Communication and Questions

• If you have any questions, please above uniforms or registration please email Kyra ([email protected]) and any questions about team selection, please contact Randy Shanklin([email protected]). Under no circumstances, should you contact a coach directly.

Thank you

Lastly, we thank all the parents and coaches who volunteered their time to assist with try-outs. It has been an epic couple of weeks and we have had many people dedicate hours and hours to try outs. It was a wonderful demonstration of community spirit and we greatly appreciate you all.