Colour Wristbands for Under 8 & Under 9 Competitions

Our Under-8 and Under-9 Domestic Competition will be trialling a colour-coded wristband system for the upcoming Summer Domestic Season.

Each player will have a coloured wristband which will allow them to “match up” and play defense with the player on the other team with the same colour wristband.

An initiative developed by our Domestic Clubs, we are pleased to introduce this concept which allows for all players to continue to enjoy the game while developing their skills that will set them up for success. This will ultimately keep kids in the game of basketball for longer!

Purpose

Often in U8/9 games you will see the player with the ball and all five players from the other team crowding around them.

When there are 5 players defending the ball, it causes the player with the ball to lose confidence and not develop their ball handling skills. As they are young, they have not yet developed their peripheral vision to see their 4 open team mates, this method will be an integral part of that on court development.

This strategy will encourage:

• Players in offense without the ball to move to open spaces which will encourage good on court movement and not to run towards the ball
• Players in defense will be taught to play 1v1 defense which is critical to their development in basketball
• The player with the ball will develop their ball handling skills as they will no longer have 5 players defending them 

Why is development important? Shouldn’t it just be about fun?

We have found that children at this age thrive on the social elements of playing team sport, if we can instil good principals along the way at such an early stage we are setting the kids and our association up for success in the long run. When our players continually develop, it will become very clear that the fundamentals have been taught to our kids without them even realising it.

The purpose of this initiative is to ensure a fun and fair environment for all kids as they learn our great game of basketball.

What it encourages

It encourages players to develop the correct skills in both offense and defense from an early age so they continue to enjoy the game.

What it prevents

• 5 players defending the 1 player with the ball which causes players to lose confidence
• It prevents the dreaded half court wall when the mercy rule is introduced
• It will also help with preventing a large difference in the score at the end of the game as it will be a more even game

How will this be enforced

The coaches will play a very important part in ensuring their players match up with their corresponding colour from the opposition.

If a player is repeatedly not defending their colour player, the referee will blow the whistle and remind the player/s of the match up rule and hand the ball in from the sideline.

As we trial this, we will continue to work on how this will be maintained. We ask for your patience, understanding and support.