Hello Everyone and welcome to Championship season.

On behalf of the Junior Coaching Panel please find important information as we get ready for the new season, and there is a large amount of information so please read carefully.
If you have any questions following this communication please direct an email to juniors@lionsbasketball.com.au and/or president@lionsbasketball.com.au

We wish all players and coaches who are about to participate in the Australian Country Championships in Albury, the East Coast Challenge in Sydney or the Southern Cross Challenge in Melbourne, have a great time and play hard!!
Please be advised that training resumes this Sunday the 11th January for all DISTRICT teams. Northern Roar domestic teams will resume the following week, the 18th January. There are a few minor changes to the training schedule, so please take note. Our availability at Riverbanks College is changing mid-week, with NO teams allowed to train after 9pm, due to a new school policy. Sunday's training schedule is listed below; however, as we are still finalising the mid-week changes, teams will be notified ASAP. For teams training mid-week at Riverbanks, please also note that NO TEAM is allowed to start on court 2 (the court next to OHSC) until 6:30pm, as it is still being used by OHSC, therefore ALL players need to leave this court vacant until 6:30pm. We trust that all members and teams will adhere to these rules, as Riverbanks College had advised that these are non-negotiables. As always, we ask all players and teams to leave all the training facilities as you found them. Therefore, all rubbish is to be removed, and the courts are to be kept tidy. Starplex, Trinity courts and Riverbanks College have all requested this going forwards.
JDL CHAMPIONSHIP REGISTRATION: Please register for the 2025-26 JDL Championship Season via the Basketball Connect link below. We ask that ALL players are registered by no later than 5pm Sunday the 18th January.
https://registration.basketballconnect.com/userRegistration?organisationId=968fba61-982b-4e2f-8671-ed9d6a29209f&competitionId=599617ea-8b6b-4164-85d5-2a050b6ee001
TEAM/PLAYER CHANGES: As previously communicated, some team changes are still being finalised over the break. Coaches will communicate player movement this week in the lead up to the first training on the 11th January. Our Junior Coaching Director, along with coaches, has put a lot of time and thought into this process. This can be a challenging process as we try to find the ‘best fit’ teams for each player. Due to a miscommunication over the Xmas period, a couple of teams haven’t been finalised, which has been reflected in incorrect fees. In these cases we will adjust these before the start of the Championship season. We apologise for any inconvenience or confusion this may have caused.
CHAMPIONSHIP SEASON FEES: We have sent out the championship season fees earlier than usual this year. This is due to the club in previous seasons needing to follow up unpaid and outstanding fees for some time. This becomes time consuming for our finance volunteers. We ask that season fees are paid before round 1 of Championship season, and once paid, players will then be added to Basketball Connect by the club, which allows each player to take the court for round 1. If you have difficulty paying fees, please email finance at (finance@lionsbasketball.com.au). We also have some current players unfinancial from pre-season. We ask that these players pay their outstanding fees before returning to training on Sunday 11th January.
UNIFORMS: All players should have now received the NEW district uniform. These uniforms are NOW allowed to be worn. Previous/old uniforms are now NOT ALLOWED, to comply with our BSA uniform policy. If you have any concerns over uniforms, please email our uniform team at melissa.long21@outlook.com
TEAMAPP: You should have now downloaded stack TeamApp and gained access to your team. This would have placed you into the team’s chat group. You can start communicating with your team here. Some teams will start messenger chats, which is fine, but please still be active on your TeamApp chat, as this is the only way the club can directly contact the whole team.
STARPLEX CARNIVAL: ALL CDBC junior district teams have been registered for the Starplex Carnival (unless teams are attending the Eltham Tournament). Please be reminded that ALL CDBC players are required to play for CDBC at this carnival, this includes our country players, as the Starplex carnival is a Metro carnival. Team managers will be sent rego links on Sunday 11th January, which they will then forward to their teams for players to register.Welcome back, we hope you enjoyed your break and are now ready to get back out on the court and prepare for what should be an exciting 2026 JDL Championship Season!!

Cheers