VJBL tryouts for the following season are held in October, with most associations opening registrations in September. Each association runs its own tryout, sets its own dates and takes its own registrations. Expect two or three sessions, graded by age group, with squads named a few weeks later.
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.
Tryouts for the 2026/27 VJBL season are held in October 2026. Registrations generally open the month before, through September.
This is the fact Victorian basketball parents miss most often, and it is worth stating bluntly. The season starts in autumn, so people assume they can sort a rep spot out early in the year. By then the squads have been picked, trained together over summer and played a full preseason. October is the door, and it is only open once.
There is no single statewide tryout. Every association runs its own, sets its own dates, books its own venue and takes its own registrations. Basketball Victoria maintains a page listing association tryouts, but it is compiled from what associations submit and it is frequently out of date. Check the association's own site and their socials, and if the date matters to you, ring them.
Most associations run two or three sessions per age group over a week or two, and expect a player to attend all of them. Turning up to one is usually read as not being serious, whether or not that is fair.
The format is fairly consistent. Some warm up and movement work, then drills that let coaches see footwork, hands and decision making, then a long stretch of small sided games and full court play. The games are where the decisions get made. Drills show a coach what a player can do. Games show them what a player actually does.
Numbers are called out or pinned on. Coaches stand at the side with a clipboard and say very little to the kids. That silence is not a verdict, it is just what assessing forty players in ninety minutes looks like.
Squads are usually named a few weeks after the last session, by email or through the association's registration platform. Some associations run a second round for borderline players. Some do not.
This is the part parents get most wrong, so here is the honest version from the other side of the clipboard.
Nobody is counting points. A kid who takes fifteen shots at a tryout is easy to select against. What gets written down is whether a player moves without the ball, whether they talk on defence, whether they go after a loose ball, whether their first thought with the ball is a good one, and whether they are still competing in the last five minutes.
Coachability gets weighted more heavily than anything technical at the younger age groups. If a coach corrects something and the player changes it in the next possession, that goes in the book. If they do the same thing again three times, that goes in the book too.
Height and speed obviously get noticed. They are also the two things a player cannot do much about in the six weeks before a tryout, which is exactly why they are the wrong things to worry about.
The work that shows up at a tryout is the work done in the months before it, not the week before it. Cramming does not transfer. A player who has been getting up shots and handling the ball consistently since winter will look different in October, and there is no shortcut to that.
In the fortnight before, back off rather than pile on. Sharp and fresh beats tired and overworked. Get sleep sorted, get the shoes worn in, and go and play.
On the day: arrive early, warm up properly rather than standing around, and know your number. Parents, sit up the back and let the coaches coach. A parent shouting instructions from the sideline is noticed, and never in a good way.
If your child is nervous, the useful thing to tell them is that they are being assessed over several hours across several sessions, not on any one possession. One bad turnover in the first ten minutes decides nothing.
Plenty of very good players get cut, and at Under 12 and Under 14 the reasons are frequently developmental rather than about ability. Kids grow at different times. A squad that looks settled at twelve rarely looks the same at sixteen.
Domestic basketball is not a consolation prize. It is a full competition with real coaching, and a player who spends a season getting big minutes and touching the ball constantly often develops faster than one sitting on a rep bench.
The other option worth knowing is that some associations run development or academy programs alongside their rep squads, and the Regional League tier added to the VJBL in 2026 sits below the Victorian Junior League divisions with travel deliberately reduced. Ask the association what exists between domestic and their top squad, because the answer is rarely nothing.
And tryouts come round every October. A player who misses out at twelve and keeps working is not out of the pathway. They are a year away from the next door.
In October for the following season, with registrations generally opening in September. Each association sets its own dates, so check the association's own site rather than relying on a central listing.
Most associations run two or three per age group and expect a player at all of them. Attending only one is usually read as a lack of commitment.
Movement without the ball, defensive effort and communication, decision making, competing late in a session, and coachability. Scoring volume counts for far less than parents expect.
Associations have rules about this and about players already registered elsewhere, and clearances may be required to move. Ask the association directly before registering for two tryouts.
No. Domestic is a full competition, and a player getting heavy minutes there often develops faster than one on a rep bench. Tryouts run again the following October.
Next questions parents ask
Every competition in this guide
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.
I coach players aged 7 to 17 online, with a plan built around them and a check in every week. The work that shows up at a tryout happens in the months before it.