Oakleigh Warriors www.warriorsbasketball.org

OAKLEIGH WARRIORS
JUNIOR CHAMPIONSHIP PROGRAM
Oakleigh Warriors
www.warriorsbasketball.org
CLUB INFORMATION

Dear Player & Parents,
Welcome to the information booklet for the Oakleigh Warriors, Melbourne’s newest elite
basketball entity who are embarking on one of the most exciting challenges in Melbourne
Metropolitan Basketball. At the Warriors we are committed to your child receiving the highest
standard of coaching that we can provide and the opportunity to improve their game dramatically.
This document gives you all the information you will require as a member of the Oakleigh
Warriors program for the 2012/2013 Championship season in our Junior representative basketball
program. This booklet is to give you information about this program and answer some of the
more common questions.
Please note that the cutoff date for this competition is 31st of December 2013.
What is representative basketball?
Representative basketball is exactly what it says: your team represents our association against
teams who represent their respective associations. These teams include Melbourne Tigers,
Southern Sabres, Knox Raiders and Eltham Wildcats to name a few. “Victorian Championship”
is the highest standard of basketball you can achieve in metropolitan Melbourne at a junior
level; the next step is to be selected in a state squad. You cannot be selected in a state squad
unless you are playing rep ball.
What does it cost?
The Rep ball season runs for 12 months and is divided into two parts; a grading phase and a
championship phase. The association charges subscription fees of $460.00 that covers both the
grading and the championship phase. For families that have more than one child playing Rep ball
we discount the fees to $410.00 for a second child and $360.00 for a third. Where these fees may
be too much for a family to handle at once; payment schedules can be arranged.
Subscription fees cover training, registrations and trophy costs. This fee also covers the cost of
team entry for the Dandenong tournament held in late January and must be paid before your child
starts training. The Dandenong tournament is compulsory for each of our teams and the fee is
compulsory for each of our Rep players.
A $10.00 fee applies to all Rep games which is collected by each team’s team manager. This
covers score sheet and coaching fees. All venues also charge a door entry fee of between $2.00
and $3.00.
Other costs, which you will have to look at, are the cost of a rep kit which includes the following :
Uniforms – Top & Shorts
Hoodie
Polo Shirt
Reversible training/clash tops
Tracksuit pants
Warriors Kit bags
At the time of writing the cost for the whole kit is $300.00. Please note these prices are subject to
cpi increases.

Other costs that you may need to budget for are tournaments throughout the year that our teams
enter from time to time. You will be given information and details before each of those
tournaments.
What is expected of Me ?
Championship basketball is played on Friday nights, with home games being played at Oakleigh
Recreation Center and away games being played across Metropolitan Melbourne. Each team’s
team manager and / or coach helps to coordinate transport arrangements. You will be required to
train with your championship squad twice a week.
You will also be expected to undertake individual training to improve your basic fundamental
skills such as shooting. These sessions will be organized by your team’s coach. You will also be
expected to participate in a training camp conducted during the last two weeks of the Summer
holidays, this culminates with the Dandenong / Eltham junior basketball tournament over the
Australia day weekend. This is the largest junior tournament in Australia and is an ideal
preparation for the oncoming season.
Each player will be given offensive and defensive plays to learn from their coaches and some
written materials to help them with this. We will also be completing personal evaluations of each
team member’s strengths, weakness, and areas of our player’s individual game where they will
require improvement.
Each player will be expected to arrange school work and other commitments (chores, jobs, etc.)
they have in such a way as to ensure that they will be able to attend training. If you have any
problems with this, you will be expected to let your team’s coach know.
If we are to compete with other associations, we must commit ourselves to becoming the best we
can be. The only way to do this is through spending the necessary time training and learning as
much as possible about this game. If players arrange their time properly they should have plenty
of time to complete their homework and any other duties their parents might require of them.
When and where is training?
We currently train at Oakleigh Recreation Center on Tuesday and Wednesday nights with other
training sessions scheduled at venues outside Oakleigh . Training times are scheduled as best as
possible to meet coaches and player needs. These times and venues can be found on the Warriors
Web page at www.warriorsbasketball.org , Go to this webpage and go to the link for training
times. This page will be updated regularly.
What do I do now ?
What you need to do now is make a decision whether or not you are prepared to commit yourself
to championship basketball and the commitments that will be required of you. You should decide
that this is what you really want to do. If you decide to commit yourself then get ready to start
training, be prepared to work hard, and to come to training with the right attitude. If you decide
that this isn’t for you, then that’s fine, all we ask is that you advise us of this as this may make
positions available to other players who we may otherwise not offer a spot to.
For current training times please refer to the Oakleigh Warriors website referred to above. It’s at
these training sessions that we will pass on information about the forthcoming season and we will
also answer any questions that you might have. You will also be required to register on this night
and pay your subscription fees or make arrangements to do so

If you are interested and would like to confirm things but can’t attend these training sessions then
call our Basketball Manager Bob Mann on 0468 543 173, or contact him via his e-mail at
bob_mann@warriorsbasketball.org
Please don’t let the training times stop you from trying out if you are interested as alternative
arrangements can be looked at if there are difficulties with this time.
WHY SHOULD I PLAY CHAMPIONSHIP BASKETBALL ?
To play championship basketball requires a great deal of commitment. There is the
commitment to training, to your matches on Friday nights, the traveling to away games
and of course the expense of purchasing uniforms and warm up gear.
There are many reasons to not participate, but we believe you should take into
consideration the reasons we believe you should participate in our program. We believe
they far outweigh the commitments involved and have listed them below.
(1) OPPORTUNITY
This is an opportunity for your child to participate in an elite sports program. Your child
has been identified as having the potential to play at this level. This could have been done
by one of several ways, your child was seen at a domestic match, basketball clinic held at
our gym or your child’s school, or was recommended to us by one of coaches or other
members.
(2) THE VALUE OF COMMITMENT
Your child gets taught the value of commitment. For our club to achieve success at this
level we need everybody involved in club to be committed from players through to our
administration, our parents and our dedicated coaches. Your child will be in an
environment that teaches them persistence and commitment. After the initial excitement
of being invited to join and receiving their new uniform and tracksuit it is then hard work
to achieve success. Every other member of our club knows this and is made aware of it
before joining.
(3) AN EXTENDED FAMILY
The Southern Warriors is truly a family club. It has been founded and administered on
this basis. As previously stated all our members are committed to it’s success and
therefore become a close-knit group. Many of our junior members have formed close
friendships, not just amongst their teams but with players and families from all our teams.
Many of our players and indeed their families have formed bonds and ties that will last
for years to come. We encourage this and run social events to facilitate it.
The importance of this as a support base in years to come, (especially when your child
reaches the troublesome teenage years) should not be underestimated. For example many
of our junior members come from single parent families or unfortunately at times

unhappy home backgrounds and get so attached to the club it becomes virtually their
second family. This is probably the greatest achievement of our club above all others.
(4) SUCCESS AGAINST THE ODDS & ACCEPTING A CHALLENGE
Compared to other Associations our club and it’s feeder groups are very small. We would
draw from a pool of players less than a thousand strong, yet many of the Associations we
compete against and have beaten have over the years have six thousand members or
more. The Dandenong, Kilsyth and Nunawading Associations have ten thousand or more
members. Any success we achieve is against the odds.
Due to this our kids develop a self belief and confidence in not only their basketball but
in many other aspects of their lives. They learn the valuable lessons that: -
(a) anything is possible if you are prepared to accept a challenge and work
towards your goals to conquer that challenge
and (b) the best kind of success is the one that is the hardest to achieve. The success
that everyone else says you can’t achieve, or is to hard to accomplish is the
one that you should always strive for.
(5) HOW OUR PROGRAM HAS ACHIEVED SUCCESS DESPITE THE ODDS
After 8 years of trial and error and research as a coach our Basketball Manager Bob
designed his own basketball coach and development program designed specifically
Despite smaller numbers Bob Mann and his coaching staff through this proven program
have achieved outstanding results over the past twelve years. Bob oversaw the
development of one of the most successful small clubs in the state at McKinnon. On the
next page we list highlights of the McKinnon club under Bob’s guidance since 2001 .
Every year that program under Bob’s leadership and guidance achieved something
special. Every year they achieved a little more and every year they built or improved on
the previous year’s performance.
Bob has every intention of compiling the same record at the Warriors over the next five
years and we want you to be a part of that program and its ongoing success.
We believe that these reasons alone are excellent ones for your child to participate in our
championship program. We hope that you will also see this in the same light that we do
and realize that our program is not only about basketball development but also about
personal development as well.
Bob has some very capable people under his tutelage in the coaching ranks as well. Ivan
Platenik is start in ABA ranks (one level below ABA) and program coaches Patrick
Suhodobnik and Jason Collie played under Bob in their junior years. Patrick has already
achieved significant success with his teams making VC and winning two titles at levels
below.

OAKLEIGH WARRIORS – OUR PROGRAM HIGHLIGHTS SO FAR
2010 U12 Boys win Metro 2 Grand Final
U/14(1) Boys make finals in Metro 4
U14(2) Boys make finals in East 2
U12 Girls make metro1 in first year
U/18 boys make Metro 3.
Four teams make finals in Dandenong tournament
U16 Boys win Dandenong Tournament
U14(2) Boys win Dandenong Tournament.
U14(1) Boys win Adelaide tournament.
2011 U12(1) Boys make Victorian Championship
U12(1) Boys make Top 10 Victorian Championship
U12(1) Boys invited into the National Classic
U12(2) Boys make finals in East 3
U/14(1) Boys win Dandenong Tournament
U14(1) Boys win Adelaide Tournament
U14(1) Boys make Metro 2 finals
U14(2) Boys make East 3 Finals
U14(3) Boys win Dandenong Tournament
U14(3) Boys win East 4 Grand Final
U16(1) Boys runners up in East 1
U16(2) Boys runners up in East 4 Reserve
U14 Girls make East 1 preliminary final.
2012 U12(1) Boys make VJL1
U12(1) Boys make VJL1 Finals
U12(1) Boys win VJL1 championship
U/14(1) Boys make Victorian Championships in Phase One!
U14(1) Boys make VC reserve Preliminary final
U14(2) Boys runner up in East(1)
U16(2) Boys make VJL2
U18 Boys Win East 4 championship
U14 Girls make VJL3