What is Hawthorn Magic?

Hawthorn Magic is a Representative Basketball club that competes in the Victorian Junior Basketball League competition that is played every Friday night across Melbourne between 6pm - 11pm in the Under 12,14,16,18 and 20 age groups for boys and girls. Younger age groups play earlier in the night.

Hawthorn Magic draws its players from local suburbs primarily through our local domestic competition the Hawthorn Basketball Association which is played on a Saturday.

The Magic program is additional to the Saturday Domestic competition and players do not need to leave these Saturday teams if they join Magic. They play for Magic on top of their Saturday competition.

Who can join the Hawthorn Magic Junior Basketball club?
Anybody under 19 years can tryout for Magic selection. We would prefer that players have some height, athletic ability, lots of desire, commitment and heaps of perseverance.

Each year at the end of the Championship season, positions in all of the Hawthorn Magic junior basketball teams are declared open and vacant. Nobody is guaranteed a place on any team.

To secure a playing position in one of our teams, all players interested have to attend our Clubs' Try Outs. The players then have to earn their position on the teams. This includes our No1 teams.

Our club wants to produce the best possible teams to compete at the best possible levels. Even if you are not quite up to No1 team standard - if you have the desire and the work ethic, we will place you in one of our development teams. These teams will be given lots of good coaching to improve your skills. From there, maybe you will make it.

If you are coming from another representative Club
If you have at any time in the past, or currently play on Friday nights, you will need to get permission from your club. This does not mean that you are leaving but are letting your club know that you want to go to other clubs' Try Out sessions, to see what they can offer.

Some players do go to a number of different Try Out sessions to see what positions in their teams are available.

If you decide to try out at another club you will need the following forms.

Permit to Train

Clearance

The Structure of the Try Outs is to: 

• Allow ALL players attending an opportunity to perform at their best during Try Outs. Some practice matches, involving Trying Out players will be arranged on Friday nights during November. 
• Have the right coaches present observing all the players. 
• Coaches should have the chance to see as many participants as they need to construct a team suitable for the competition they will enter into. 
• Coaches are to meet before the Try Outs, during the Try Outs and after the Try Outs to determine (as a group) what players would be best suited for the teams that each coach is selecting.

The Club has specified some criteria that should be observed by coaches selecting players: 

• All decisions shall be made as a group of coaches that have coached or will coach the players. 
• Disputes shall be settled by the Head coach, Director of Coaching or President of the Club. 
• All players selected shall be financial to the club. Payment of fees. 
• The players shall have been regularly attending training during the previous season.

The club is also interested in development of future teams. Specifically bottom age players should be placed in a division that they can grow, develop and be challenged. 

Try Outs
Once a year (usually in October) the Hawthorn Magic invites all players to 'Try Out' to show their skills and abilities and become a Hawthorn Magic Representative player.

What happens after Try Outs

Players are placed into squads that will be further evaluated before final selections for teams are announced. Coaches reserve the right to adjust teams up until the commencement of grading phase 2 to ensure each player is placed at a level they can develop and suit team balance.  

Registration
New players may join our club by attending Try Outs and be selected into one of the Hawthorn "Rep teams".

REPRESENTATIVE BASKETBALL

Hawthorn Magic provides a programme for players who wish to enhance their skills by competing in higher levels of basketball competition. This Competition is called Championship or Representative Basketball.

Often called simply Rep. representative Basketball is a learning curve and takes the new players coming into the competition time to get used to the "pressure on the ball" type of game and tougher defense. but it is still a game and one which junior players should enjoy.

Representative basketball is the competition that higher standard girls and boys teams are entered into by the Hawthorn Association in Victorian Junior State Championships and Metropolitan League Divisions. These competitions come under the governing body of Basketball in Victoria. 

Rep. is played every Friday Night with the exception of the middle week of the school holidays and over the Christmas vacation. Some Finals are played on Sundays.

Rep was designed to give keen junior basketballers an opportunity to participate at a more competitive level than the domestic Saturday afternoon / night competitions. By competing against composite teams from other Associations within Victoria and, in particular, the Metropolitan and semi-urban areas.

Hawthorn Magic's aim through Representative Basketball is to develop our younger players for the future. While, at this early stage of their basketball life, it is difficult to comprehend that they may one day be playing senior basketball and participating in such prestigious Senior competitions as the Victorian Basketball League, Metropolitan League, etc. - IT DOES HAPPEN!

There are currently three levels within the Rep competition:

The Victorian Championships

This is the highest level junior players in Victoria can aspire to. These teams are involved in and around Melbourne.

Victorian Junior League

This is the the second highest level. These Junior league divisions are not regionalised and the games are also played within the Metropolitan area.

Eastern Qualifying / North West League

This league is the third level and is played in regional areas as well as Melbourne

Age Groupings for 2014 
One of the most frequently questions asked is about age groupings. Age Groups for teams in the 2013-14 season are;

Under 12 - eligible players must not turn 12 in 2014, they are born in 2003, 2004, 2005 
Under 14 - eligible players must not turn 14 in 2014, they are born in 2001, 2002 
Under 16 - eligible players must not turn 16 in 2014, they are born in 1999, 2000 
Under 18 - eligible players must not turn 18 in 2014, they are born in 1997, 1998

Under 20 - eligible players must not turn 20 in 2014, they are born in 1995, 1996

This is quite often a shock to parents who are concerned that their child may be coming up against much older players. All junior players will spend a maximum of two years in each of the age groups. For those starting out or who are bottom age players, they are placed in comparable easier or lower grades. They may come up against older players on the odd occasion. The age group classifications for all players is no different to domestic basketball where there are also top and bottom age players playing in the age groups.

Season:
At present, the Rep season is played for nearly twelve months commencing, approximately, mid-late November one year and going through to September the next year. There are 3 phases of competition played throughout the year.

1. Spring season or Pre Grading season October to November 2014.
2. Grading Season - December 2013 to February March 2014.
These two different phases decide where the teams will play throughout the main
3. Championship Season April through to September.

We finish off the basketball year on Dec 20th 2013 and recommence on Jan 18/19th 2014 in preparation for the Eltham Tournament on the Australia Day long weekend.

Most activity runs in line with the School holidays & terms commencing.

Training:
The majority of training is on Sunday mornings for the under 20's 18's & 16's 14's and 12 girls, with the under 12 boys in the afternoon due to football.

Representative Basketball requires a lot of dedication on behalf of the parents and players. A higher level of committment is required than is the case for domestic level teams. Parents have the responsibility of transporting players to training and games at times designated by the coach as well as other duties such as scoring. Players are expected to attend every training session and game.