Recommendation for School Aged Basketballers

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With School, Club and Representative basketball all starting up, it is important that our young players do not overburden themselves

We have formulated our recommendations for High School Aged Basketballers, in order to send a consistent message that we (in terms of club, school and representative basketball) and BBNZ are all communicating. BBNZ’s General Manager of High Performance (Leonard King) recommends a limit of 15 hours a week of sport related practices and games (USA Basketball has similar guidelines) for school aged players.

What it boils down to is:

  • Maximum of 15 hours a week of athletic work for a player
  • Players in a High School Basketball team should only be playing in one club game per week (on Saturday or Sunday). Players could still play up in the next grade if injuries or sickness warranted it
  • High School Players should be playing club basketball in the one grade which will best serve their needs
  • Not listed in the memo, but relevant – Gym space (especially so on Sunday, but still relevant on Saturday) will make it impossible to guarantee any players can play in two grades (U21 and below) each week, so please select your teams at trials accordingly

 

While all three programs are underway, a normal week could look like this:

  • School – One game, One team practice (30-60 minutes on court, two hours practice)
  • Club – One game, One team practice (30-60 minutes on court, two hours practice)
  • Representative – One practice (two hours)
  • Skill Training – two hours
  • Weights/Fitness – two hours
  • Total = 12 hours (i.e. three hours extra that *could* be utilised).

Rest Day – it is important that athletes over the age of 12 have at least one day of rest per week

 

It is important to have some flexibility between programs as needed (i.e. when Representative tournaments are on, another team’s session could be eliminated for that week). Also important – the fifteen hours recommended covers all sports and athletic undertakings (i.e. if an athlete is doing two sports concurrently, their recommended hours does not double to 30)

 

This message is wholeheartedly endorsed by the Canterbury Basketball Association, Canterbury Regional Basketball Foundation, Mainland Eagles, and Basketball New Zealand

 

The memo can be downloaded from our document page, or by clicking here

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