The NSW basketball year, from trials to State Cup

The rep year, in order

The table sets out the shape of a NSW rep year, using dates Basketball NSW and associations have published. Dates marked 2026 are past and are there to show the pattern. On 9 October 2026 Basketball NSW's Waratah Junior Leagues page still showed 2026 key dates, and its nomination guide says formal 2027 dates will come in the 2027 Team Entry Guidelines.

The order matters more than any single date. Rep teams for 2027 are picked from late September to early November 2026, train and grade over summer, and play from about March to August. A family that starts thinking about rep in February has missed that year's trials.

Late September to November: trials

Associations pick next year's rep teams at trials they run themselves, and Basketball NSW's rules say it encourages associations to hold them within a consistent window each year. For 2027 teams, Inner West Bulls' junior sessions run from Saturday 26 September to Saturday 31 October 2026, Hills' from Tuesday 6 October to Sunday 1 November, and Bankstown's from Tuesday 13 October to Thursday 5 November. Parramatta-Cumberland's run from Saturday 17 to Thursday 29 October, Camden Valley Wildfire's over three weeks starting Monday 12 October, and Manly Warringah lists Sundays 18 and 25 October and 1 November.

Norths publishes two versions. Its trials web page lists sessions from Sunday 18 to Thursday 29 October, and its 2027 Trials Information Pack adds closed sessions running to Sunday 8 November. Several associations, including Norths, Hills and Parramatta-Cumberland, run open sessions first, then invitation only or closed sessions for players who progress. If your child is already registered with another association, Basketball NSW's rules require an Intent to Trial form before they trial somewhere new. The form is not a clearance, so a selected player still needs a clearance from their old association before playing.

December to March: qualifying, pre-season and grading

Once teams are picked, the work starts early. Basketball NSW's nomination guide for the Waratah State Championships describes two qualifying stages: Stage 1 in December, exclusively for country associations, and Stage 2 in February, open to all. Formal dates, venues and fees are to come in the 2027 Team Entry Guidelines.

Associations nominate teams with a provisional team list, normally of at least 10 players. Where Basketball NSW decides a pre-season tournament will be held for a competition, every nominated team must play in it, and grading decisions by Basketball NSW and its pre-season grading committees are final.

Some associations add their own pre-season events. Norths' 2026 handbook lists Summer Slam, a tournament organised by Hills, Norths, City of Sydney and Sutherland over the last weekend of January, as compulsory for all Norths teams, and says its 2026 pre-season training began on 19 January 2026. In 2026, the Metro Junior League pre-season started on 14 February.

March to August: the season and its finals

The 2027 rules describe the year in two rounds. Round One covers the regional leagues and the Metro Junior League, each with a finals series, and the Waratah State Championships season. Round Two is the Waratah State Championships Finals, the U12 State Championships and the State Cup. All regular season games start no earlier than 8am on Saturday or Sunday.

The 2026 dates give a fair idea of timing. The MJL season began on 15 March, with semi finals on 19 July and grand finals on Sunday 26 July 2026. The JPL began on 28 March, and its finals and the U12 State Championships ran from 31 July to 2 August in Newcastle and Maitland. The State Cup followed on 8 to 9 August in Bathurst and Orange.

Country leagues run on their own timetables. In 2026 the Western Junior League began in February and played its finals on 2 and 3 May. Basketball NSW holds the John Martin Country Tournament each June long weekend.

Talent programs and state teams run on their own calendar

Basketball NSW's own programs do not follow the rep season. Its Performance Pathway trials for 2027 programs were held from late August to mid September 2026. The State Performance Program then runs weekly sessions in terms 4 and 1, and the Developing Athlete Program in terms 1 and 2.

Its December 2025 calendar lists U18 NSW Metro state trials on 25 October, 1 November and 13 December 2026, and January Development Tours including the East Coast Challenge on 5 to 8 January 2027 and the Australian Country Junior Basketball Cup in Albury on 10 to 16 January 2027. Basketball NSW says those calendar dates may change. The U20 and Ivor Burge National Championships run from January to February 2027.

Local competition runs on each association's calendar

Domestic seasons are set by each association, and they do not line up across Sydney. Hills runs a Summer competition from October to April and a Winter competition from April to September. Sutherland runs a Winter competition across terms 2 and 3 and a Summer competition across terms 4 and 1. City of Sydney runs three seasons a year, and its season 2026-3 runs from Friday 11 September to grand finals on 11 and 12 December 2026. City of Blacktown's Summer League runs from October 2026 to April 2027, starting the week of 12 October.

Many local competitions break for school holidays. City of Sydney says it holds no games during school or public holidays, Hills plays weekly excluding holiday breaks, and Norths' miniball runs 17 rounds of weekly games besides school holidays. That is why the school calendar below is worth having.

NSW public school terms for 2027

These are the NSW Department of Education's 2027 Eastern division dates, first to last days for students. School development days for staff fall just before each term. Schools in the Western division, in the far west of the state, begin later: their students start Term 1 on Wednesday 10 February 2027.

The summer holidays run from Friday 18 December 2026 to Wednesday 27 January 2027. In 2027 the autumn holidays are Monday 12 April to Friday 23 April, winter is Monday 5 July to Friday 16 July, and spring is Monday 27 September to Friday 8 October. A small number of schools near the Victorian and Queensland borders use different dates, so check your school's own site.