Hoops

1 Team per div

Whoa there 207, those Q's are too deep and meaningful!

I am lead to believe that if you go to the Art Gallery on North Tce and bring a UV lamp you'll find a series of clues in a Hans Heysen that leads you into becoming a master suspect in a web of intrigue.

If you're Adelaide Olde Money, you'll know where The Adelaide Club is and know the secret password. If you're not a Bonython, Barr-Smith, Gosse, Angas or Elder, then find someone who is and after a chucka or two they might share it over a 100 year old scotch.

Watch out for an albino 7 foot centre with a penchant for whipping himself senseless.

At the end of a long trail around the leafy suburbs of Adelaide, you find a secret chamber under Wayville which was dug as a bomb shelter in WW2, where if you are lucky you'll be initiated into a secret society. (just be very careful where the goat arrives, but you'll be OK if you went to a certain private school)

Once initiated into the first level, you'll find an even more double secret chamber.

119, some truly valid points.

Anyone who can put their hand on their heart and say that junior basketball in this state is healthy is living in la la land.

The gap between boys and girls participation, the gap in strength between the top and bottom clubs, and the perceived bias in the competition format and organisation are huge elephants in the room that no-one wants to resolve. Let's face it, 9:45 pm games are just too late so is it any wonder that kids, especially country kids, drop out at that level. Stadiums and facilities can be described as “ordinary” just to be kind to some of the ramshackled tin shed firetraps with moonscape carparks.

The girls competition is a farce with poor participation meaning lopsided matches. The gap between Div 1 and Div 2 is basically non-existant and the gap between “social” and Div 2 is a chasm so it is very hard for new girls to enter the sport at this level. The boys competition is somewhat more even, probably by mistake rather than good planning, but still has issues with regards to consistency. I would argue that a strong "social" player could enter a Div 2 team relatively easily.

Each competition is dominated by one club, which always has a tendancy to happen and is not necessarily a bad thing, but when one club has more teams in one division than an entire club’s programme, then alarm bells should be blaring at the Association HQ.

Participation rates appear higher in Victoria and considering Melbourne is 4 times Adelaide’s population, one expects that the number of players should be 4 times more, not 8 or 10 times. (can someone please confirm the actual numbers?) The Adelaide comp should be larger than what it is and I believe we need MORE clubs, rather than fewer clubs.

Basketball is a relatively high cost sport. A Principal mate of mine at a “lower socio-economic school” relayed to me that BSA had a competition where his school was invited, but there was a cost to entry. He said that the SANFL had a similar competition which was FREE, plus they had giveaways, SANFL players there etc etc.

At the end of the day, kids need to play at the level where their skills are at. If some clubs can fill two Div 2 teams that are competitive and there is room in the comp for it, then “good luck” to those teams. However, Clubs should not behave like posh bratz and expect to have two teams regardless. The question that I believe is the real issue with all this, and that I have maintain for a while is, “How can we get more participation in the sport?”