Hoops

Poaching in VJBL

Melbourne Tigers run 10+ teams in in the U12/14/16 to be able to pay for their NBL1 program. As they do not have a domestic program, it is the only income stream for them apart from any sponsors they have.

Outside of the top 5 teams, they pick players names out of a hat for the remaining teams. Seriously.

Why do you NEED more than 5 teams in U14s if its an elite rep program - NO you're running a domestic pay to play program and using the cream to fund seniors.

THATS why there is 30 transfers

VJBL will start to lose its value if big clubs keep doing this

Melbourne Tigers take a lot of kids into the program - they have more than 5 teams in Under 14s some of that has to wash out at some point as it heads elsewhere.

Poaching or Recruiting??

If a kids is unhappy at a clubs grading, his opportunity to play the position he thinks he is preferred at for hi/development why not?

You change jobs if the boss and work is not what you want, no problem changing clubs either.

Too much of a big deal is put on ''poaching'' coaches should and do recruit because they sell a great program or opportunity.

As a coach I am always mindful of players who have moved twice, but if you do your homework I have recruited kids because they were undervalued at the previous club, and the classic is the tall kid being asked to play as the 5 man when he knows he isn't going to grow anymore.

Red84 Exactly!

There is a tendency to bag parents, saying that they are living their lives through their kids. But there are a lot of dysfunctional coaches out there who play the local politics game well and are not going anywhere. I have had one of my kids traumatized by a "coach with issues"; if i did not move her, she would be lost to the game. If your club is not responding to incident after incident, your kid looks to you for help, you have to be there to help them.

Some coaches are not there for the kids, they are there for themselves. They want to win championships at any cost and the kids are just the set of tools to win the championship. Many a time you will see a player 'happen' to change clubs under these circumstances and then a year or two later quit playing. A number of the 1s coaches at my previous club were like that, glad I got out of there. Another thing - almost always it is the parents that are lured not the kids; the parents' egos require them to move their kid around.

Does anyone actually disagree that it is wrong for coaches to actively ask players to play on their team because although players moving because they like the coach is a realistic scenario they oftentimes seem to like the coach because they've been offered things like ones side and nationals appearances...

To the Former Altona parent. I’m sorry to hear things were so bad there, nobody would have an issue with a family leaving an association to get away from a toxic situation. I think these appear at every club from time to time. Was there not an issue at Hawthorn in the boys section last year with half the kids leaving one team because of the coach? Why did you choose Hawthorn though, you have clubs like Melb and Keillor that are strong clubs and are a lot closer.

Don’t know why you don’t mention names, for those who don’t know the opening post is referring to Bulleen boys moving to Hawthorn, specifically in u14 boys. There has been significant movement to Hawthorn a cross age groups across boys and girls. For the life of me I can’t understand why, they have been doing well because of imports not because they have done such a great job developing talent and they will end up losing all these kids anyway as they don’t have NBL1. The association I am at has some imports but to be honest I would rather they didn’t come, it’s always for a shot at championships, which really mean nothing and shouldn’t be the main aim of any association. I’d much rather develop as many kids as possible who started at the club through to NBL1 standard, that is a worthy goal.

I feel although I know exactly who this involves, everyone knows they're doing it, but who can prove it really. Promising kids the glory of titles and trips to nationals is too much for them to turn down.

It does really impact on the competitive balance at the top level, but as someone said it's always happened...

Multiple meaning 2 per team under current rules.. They are kids let them play wher ever they or their families see fit. Current rule works OK imho

Lol, this has been happening for decades

so im 17 (and a guy)and havnt played basketball for a team before, i play at school with friends, and i really want to play under 18's basketball this year, however i was wondering how competitive it is, and how good you have to be.
also, to get on a team, do you go to tryouts and hope to get picked?
thanks for the help.