The Junior Country Championships are Basketball Victoria's annual representative tournaments for country associations, run in under 12, under 14, under 16 and under 18 age groups over multiple days in a round robin and knockout format. The 2026 under 16 and under 18 event was held at Red Energy Arena in Bendigo on 14 and 15 February.
Written by Cameron James, founder and head coach at Liddicoat Basketball. Over a decade coaching junior basketball in Melbourne, including at Big V level, and rep teams from Under 12s through to Under 18s.
Last updated August 2026.
Basketball Victoria runs the Junior Country Championships every year for four age groups, under 12, under 14, under 16 and under 18. They are open to regional Basketball Victoria affiliated associations and to country Victorian athletes.
The format is a multi day event combining round robin pool play with knockout stages. Rather than a weekly season, it is a concentrated tournament, which is why country basketball families talk about championship weekends rather than championship seasons.
Because the events are age group specific, they are not all held together. Each age group has its own dates and its own venue, so a family with two children in different age groups can end up with two separate trips in a year.
They also sit outside the weekly season rather than replacing it. A country junior playing in a domestic competition and a representative program will still be doing that in the weeks either side of a championship weekend, which is why the calendar matters more for country families than for metro ones.
The 2026 under 16 and under 18 Junior Country Championships were held at Red Energy Arena in Bendigo on Saturday 14 and Sunday 15 February 2026. Both age groups ran a Division 1 and a Division 2.
The team lists published for that event show the scale of country basketball. Sixteen under 16 boys teams, thirteen under 16 girls teams, seventeen under 18 boys teams and fifteen under 18 girls teams were named, from associations across regional Victoria including Ballarat, Bendigo, Bairnsdale, Bellarine, Colac and Geelong United.
Fixtures for the event were published on PlayHQ and MyHoops rather than only on Basketball Victoria's own site. If you are looking for a draw for a future event, check both, because associations and Basketball Victoria do not always publish to the same platform at the same time.
The championships are a competition. The country talent pathway is a separate sequence of programs that Basketball Victoria runs to identify players, and the two feed each other.
It starts young. Under 12 Skills Days run across ten regional locations in Victoria, and from those, 240 athletes are selected, 120 girls and 120 boys. For 2026 those athletes were born in 2015 and were selected for the Under 12 Country Jamboree, held in Echuca from 19 to 22 September 2026.
From there the pathway continues into Basketball Victoria's high performance programs, which athletes enter through selection tryouts, camps and program invitations. The point where country and metro players meet is the Country Metro Challenge. In 2026 that ran on Saturday 27 and Monday 29 June at Red Energy Stadium in Bendigo, with 72 country athletes among the 194 selected. The endpoint is a Victoria Country state team, and Basketball Victoria named Victoria Country men's and women's under 18 teams for the Foot Locker Under 18 National Championships at Moreton Bay in Queensland from 12 to 19 April 2026.
The travel is the honest headline. A metro family driving to rep games is doing forty minutes. A country family is often doing two hours each way, and championship weekends mean accommodation on top of that.
Which side of the divide you are on is not a choice. Basketball Victoria uses postcode to determine whether an athlete is eligible for Victoria Country or Victoria Metropolitan representation. Moving house to change that is not a plan I would recommend to anyone.
The upside is real though. Country associations tend to be smaller, which means a talented player gets seen faster and gets more court time earlier. The pathway is genuinely open at every level, and Basketball Victoria funds separate country programs precisely so distance does not decide who gets a look.
Four age groups, under 12, under 14, under 16 and under 18. Each age group has its own dates and venue, so they are not all held on the same weekend.
Regional Basketball Victoria affiliated associations and country Victorian athletes are accepted. The 2026 under 16 and under 18 event ran a Division 1 and a Division 2 in each age group.
At Red Energy Arena in Bendigo on Saturday 14 and Sunday 15 February 2026, with a Division 1 and a Division 2 in each age group.
Through Basketball Victoria's country pathway, which starts with Under 12 Skills Days, moves into the Under 12 Country Jamboree, then the development programs, the Country Metro Challenge and finally a Victoria Country state team.
No. Basketball Victoria determines eligibility for Victoria Country or Victoria Metropolitan representation by postcode.
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Facts on this page were compiled from the official sources below and written up in our own words. Dates, fees and venues change every season, so confirm anything you are relying on with the association directly.
This page was last updated August 2026. Spotted something wrong? Tell us.
Most parents guess. A few sessions with a coach who watches them play tells you far more than a tryout result does.