Welcome

Congratulations to all players recently selected to play for Hawthorn Magic in the 2013-2014 VJBL season.  I bid a warm welcome to all those returning to Magic and especially to those players & parents who are new to the Club. Magic is growing in strength, both in the number of teams we are supporting and in the standard of the basketball our teams are playing.  Our 12/1 boys and 14/1 boys are ranked top in the state, our 16/1 girls are ranked 3 and all of our top teams are ranked to qualify to play in the Victorian Championships  (VC, the top 20 teams in each age group).  We have a wonderful group of coaches at every age group level.

 

We had unprecedented numbers trying out at almost every age group this year, and competition for places was very strong.  Try-outs are the most stressful and difficult time of the year for the committee, the coaches, the parents and especially for the players.  We are aware that this try-out process is flawed and we are always looking at ways to improve what we do in terms of assessment of players, selection of teams and cutting players who are not selected.  As is always the case there were a few players in contention for teams until the very end of the try-outs who were ultimately cut, and while this is unavoidable to a degree, it is very sad & painful for those players involved.

 

The VJBL Season

 

For those parents who are new to representative basketball the VJBL season can seem long & bewildering.  At present we are involved with relatively meaningless pre-grading practice games, an opportunity for coaches to experiment with game-plans & line-ups, to further assess player’s strengths & weakness.  Soon we will play in 3 or 4 important grading games prior to the Christmas break.  For our top ranking teams in each age group,  winning these games can mean automatic entry into the VC for the VJBL season. There are more grading games in February & March before the beginning of the “real” season in April.  Details of grading and other aspects of the competition are available at www.vjbl.com.au

 

For lower ranked teams in each age group the grading period is reasonably well-tuned towards establishing the best level for that team to compete in the VJBL regular season.  This means teams may have easy wins or bad losses that mean very little in the overall context of the season & parents should stress this with their young athletes. Sometimes it is better to lose grading games and then have a strong regular season at an appropriate level, rather than over-achieving during the grading period.

 

Fundraising

 

In the last couple of years the costs of running Hawthorn Magic have gone up significantly.  This is due to a combination of employing better & higher profile coaches and in the provision of extra courts for training.  As a result we have increased subscriptions for the first time in a number of years and we also have a focus on fund raising in 2013-2014.  The first fund raising activity is a raffle aimed at all Magic families with a 1^st prize of a full Magic player’s subscription.   I encourage you all to buy your allocation of tickets with proceeds going back to the club. 

 

Later in the year we hope to have a welcome social function for all parents at the start of the VJBL season & in the middle of the year we hope to hold a dinner dance or cocktail party.  Sharon Winter has kindly offered to coordinate the organisation of this function and she is looking for volunteers to help from each age group.  Hawthorn Magic already has a sponsorship deal with Bendigo Bank which has been very generous to us.  We have the opportunity to increase the value of this sponsorship by direct engagement with Bendigo Bank. If any of you are considering taking out a loan, transferring an existing loan or opening an account with Bendigo Bank please mention Hawthorn Magic so that we can be rewarded. 

 

NITP

 

In the past the VJBL ran a centralised National Intensive Training Programme (NITP), offering additional skills based training to reasonably large group of chosen athletes from all teams in the VJBL.  Typically this was offered to the top 3 or 4 players at Magic in each of the 14/1 & 16/1 boys and girls teams.  This programme has changed substantially in 2013 and now only about 15 athletes in each age group across the entire VJBL are offered centralised intensive training.  This elite group is expected to prepare players for state selection and we are very proud to have Magic players selected for this programme including Claudia Amato, Bailey Wraith & Matthew Hallam. 

 

The VJBL now expects that Clubs will offer their own intensive training programme to cater for all the other potentially great players and Magic is very excited to be offering such a programme in 2014. The programme will run in term time one morning per week between 6.30 and 7.30am at BSC.  We plan invite all boys and girls selected for the 14/1s and 14/2s and the 16/1s and 16/2s.  Charlie Fyffe is coordinating this exciting programme with the involvement of existing Magic coaches and using the high performance training structure set up by the VJBL.  More details about this programme will be available soon.

 

AGM

The Annual General Meeting of Hawthorn Junior Magic Basketball club will be held on Monday December 2^nd (venue to be announced – watch the website).  All committee positions are up for re-election at this meeting including Chairman, Secretary, Treasurer, Operations Manager and Boys and Girls Coordinators. If you are keen to nominate for a position on the committee please contact our secretary Sharon Kneale.  All parents & players are welcome to attend this meeting and it is an opportunity to see how the Club works, to meet the existing committee members and to voice your concerns about any aspect of management. I would love to see as many parents as possible attend this meeting.