Tell the coach as early as you can and tell them in writing. Missing the odd game is completely normal and no coach minds, but a team that can't field five players forfeits, so the damage comes from late notice rather than from absence. How a forfeit is recorded, and whether a fine applies, is set by your own association. In representative basketball there are also minimum game counts that affect finals eligibility.
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 September 2026.
Junior teams are small. If you know in July that you're away for two weeks in September, the coach wants to know in July, not in the group chat on a Friday night. A coach with notice can plan. A coach without it's ringing families at nine at night.
Put it in a message rather than saying it at the court, because game day conversations evaporate. A single line naming the dates is enough.
Most clubs run a team manager, usually a parent volunteer, who keeps track of availability. The VJBL handbook describes that role plainly, and the same structure exists in domestic competition. Send it to both.
A basketball team needs five players on the court. That's the whole reason absences are a bigger deal here than in a sport with eighteen on a list.
Basketball Victoria's National Junior Classic playing conditions are explicit about what happens when a team can't field them. A team that doesn't appear with a minimum of five players within ten minutes of the scheduled start forfeits the game, recorded as a twenty to nil win to the opposition. A team that arrives late but inside ten minutes concedes two points for every minute it's late. Those are the rules for Basketball Victoria's junior tournaments rather than for your Saturday game. Your association writes its own by laws for domestic basketball and they're often different, so check yours for the rules that actually govern your child.
So one family not replying isn't a private decision. It's the difference between a game and a forfeit for nine other children, and it's the reason coaches chase availability harder than seems reasonable.
If your child is unwell, keep them home. A stadium is an enclosed building with eight courts running and a few hundred people in it, and a sick child shares it with all of them.
Concussion is different and stricter. If there's any suspicion of a head knock your child comes off and doesn't go back on that day, and you follow the national concussion guidelines and your doctor before the next game. The same goes for injuries that are still sore. Basketball Victoria's codes of conduct direct coaches to follow medical advice when deciding whether an injured or ill player is ready to resume, and to remove a player promptly if there's a risk of aggravating an injury.
Nobody in junior basketball is served by a child playing at seventy percent. Tell the coach the truth about what's wrong, because a coach who knows can manage minutes rather than guess.
Plenty of children play basketball alongside football, netball, cricket or swimming, and at primary school age I think that's a good thing rather than a problem. Different sports build different movement patterns, and specialising early isn't the advantage it's sold as.
The honest conversation to have is about clashes, not about loyalty. Work out before the season which weeks are genuinely double booked, tell the coach the list, and let them plan the rotation around it.
Where it gets harder is representative basketball, which asks for two trainings and a Friday game across most of the year. That load doesn't co exist comfortably with another committed team sport, and pretending otherwise usually ends with a child letting two coaches down at once.
This is the part that catches families out, and it's specific to representative competition. The VJBL parents and players handbook explains that players in each grade must play a certain proportion of games to qualify for finals, with grading phase two and championship season games counted, and the required number rounded up where it's not a whole number.
There's also a medical certificate process for players who miss games through injury, with deadlines tied to dates during the championship season. Team managers are expected to pass injury information through the association so certificates reach the league in time.
None of that applies in domestic basketball, which doesn't run minimum game counts for finals in the same way. If your child is in domestic, missing games is purely a numbers and courtesy issue.
If you're going to miss a large block of a season, say so before you register rather than after. Associations build fixtures on team numbers, and a club that knows in advance can plan a squad with enough depth to cover you.
For a family holiday in the middle of a season, tell the club, accept that the team may need to borrow a player, and offer to help find one if you can. Most associations let a team borrow a player from another team for a week. Your coach will know the process.
And don't let a missed month become a missed season. Kids often feel awkward returning to a team that has moved on without them, and the fix is a quick word from you to the coach before the first game back rather than leaving your child to manage it.
Yes, as long as you give notice early and in writing. The problem is never the absence, it's a team discovering on the day that it can't field five players, which under those Junior Classic conditions is a forfeit recorded as twenty to nil.
It forfeits. Basketball Victoria's National Junior Classic playing conditions record the result as a twenty to nil win to the opposition if a team has fewer than five players ten minutes after the scheduled start, and penalise a late arriving team two points for every minute.
At primary school age, comfortably. Map the clashing weeks before the season and give the coach the list. Representative basketball is harder to combine, because it asks for two trainings and a Friday game across most of the year.
In representative basketball they can. The VJBL handbook sets a minimum proportion of games a player must play to qualify for finals, counting grading phase two and championship games, with a medical certificate process for players missing time through injury.
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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 September 2026. Spotted something wrong? Tell us.
Tryout windows, grading, key dates and what each level actually costs. Written for Victorian basketball parents, sent when something matters, not every week.