You see though, you want a different league feeding to the district comp, isn't that just saying let's calld Div 3 and below another name? I think I get what you're trying to say but i think players play Div 3 and below so they can get the training and structure at a club, little social teams actually train, and most kids don't want to, so without the structure being told they don't have too would almost kill any chance of promotion to higher divs, then again, this seperate lague thingo would have to be connected to some clubs, becuase how can they promote these players if they don't know where they're from, and would Div 1 and 2 coaches want to be watching and training within this new league, good idea to bring back the lower divs, I think the SOuthern Conference, City-South and other programs like that are trying to give more kids the options...

To sum up my ramble, I say that domestic comps controlled by clubs should be set up, so we don't soon have Div 6 etc. But the idea is just giving what we already have a seperate name...

Great Idea....

This should have been happening years ago!! By now we would have built maybe one of the strongest and most structured leagues in the country.

If only the right people were in the right positions and got of their butts and took the initiative!

Well Done odin, for thinking logically!

Anon above,

what odin has said is nothing like calling Div3 and below something different.

It is like saying...
Get Southern, South, Sturt, Flinders etc etc together in a pool and divide up the teams into equal standards in each grade and give them different names to the district clubs... (ie Boxers vs Roos and all those social names you get, oh and let mates play with mates or against mates if thats what they want). So you end up with 'social' clubs within the district system (in conferences) like North, Central and South.
At the end the top two teams in each grade playoff for the top honours in the state social finals.
Then from this the clubs aligned to the social teams can approach these players from social grades to district senior training should they want them to attend.

It can be fun, aswell as serious... however you want to take it.

But at least it is structured social comps (not like we have now), and it will cut down the amount of nights basketball needs to be played on, the amount of refs needed... brings better standard, more interest in the sport etc etc

Plenty of advantages...
just need to have someone with the balls to make it all happen.

If you dont like division 3, go to north adelaide. Only club where they dont care about div 3 and below.

Proposals are being circulated at junior committee level on this issue. Current proposals have div 1 to 4 in the basa comp, and below in north / south domestic club run comps. This is the basic principle behind City South. I would suspect that you may see Forestville and Sturt only nominate 4 teams in each age group in future years.
We need all clubs thinking down this line. South should get involved with City South and a similar comp set up on the North side.
Keep this thread going, this is the future. We cannot continue giving low division kids the poor service they receive from clubs. We need well run domestics that offer low cost, less travel games with as good as or better levels of comp.
Get rid of the enforced trainings (often run by parents) replace them with clinics run by the Clubs on a user pay basis

Thats my bit

What about the kid that sits in lower div's until a 2nd year under 16 than has a hugh growth spurt,to 6'9" and because he has played "social ball" for X amount of years how likely is he going to be able to utilize his height at higher div's because his skills are poor.
Some clubs do work their butt's of to offer the same opportunities to their lower div's as their higher ones.Most would say this isnt so but if your on the inside of these clubs you would understand and know.
It is easier to critise clubs and say they dont try hard enough for lower div's because this supports the evil empire's theory, and their domestic comp.
Truth be known there is already a comp that supports kids that play social and that is called church ball.By trying to start another domestic comp under the banner of a district club comp, robs from one to support the other, and stretches the already over worked volunteers in clubs even more.Our population in metro SA can not viablly keep all these comps going and also allow kids to participate in other sports. So like all theories a lot of reasearch on what would be best for the SA basketball community not whats is best for the evil empire should be done.

I think that you will find that both Forestville and Sturt are actually finding a number of young players who want to play, without the cost and travel. But who are looking for a higher standard than school, church or social.

The SA basketball community get's nothing from Church basketball other than stadium hire. If clubs were to get control of their stadiums on Saturday afternoons and run junior competitions we would be generating enough extra income for each club to be able to employ somebody to further increase participation rates in these compeittions.

If you look at the eastern side of Melbourne you would see that they have massive participation levels due to the number of domestic competitions. Right now if other area's of Adelaide had as many players as Forestville and Sturt we would not have any finanial issues. Our only problem would be finding stadiums for all the games.

Maybe rather than trying to put down the States leading clubs, others should look at what they are doing and try some of the iniciatives. Otherwise the gap will only get bigger.

Anon 57225,

Are we a little bitter here? People always have a choice: if you stay and are unhappy you have made that choice; if you have moved on good luck to you by making a choice but don't waste your time looking backwards and being bitter but look forward to making your choice work for you.