These pages cover the stadiums Victorian junior basketball is actually played in, written for the parent doing the driving. Where to park, how many courts, who plays there, and what to expect walking in for the first time.
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.
Almost every association publishes its address and stops there. What they don't tell you is that the car park fills by twenty past eight, that the entrance you want is around the side, that court six is up a flight of stairs, or that there are four games running at once and you won't hear your own name called.
None of that's secret. It's just nobody's job to write it down, so every family learns it by getting it wrong once. These pages are an attempt to write it down, aimed squarely at the parent doing the driving rather than at the player.
Junior basketball venues are louder and busier than most parents expect. A typical Saturday has several courts running simultaneously, buzzers going constantly, and games starting on a rolling schedule rather than all at once. If you've come from a sport played on an oval, the noise alone is a surprise.
Arrive earlier than feels necessary the first time. Fifteen minutes gives you time to find parking, work out which court, and let your child warm up without sprinting in. After the first visit you'll know exactly how long it takes and can cut it fine like everyone else.
Bring more layers than you expect in winter. A stadium with the roller doors open on a July morning in Melbourne is genuinely cold, and a parent sitting still on a steel bench for two hours feels it far more than the kids running around do. Most experienced basketball parents own a specific jacket for this.
It's consistently the biggest source of stress on a Saturday morning, and it's worst at the venues with the most courts, because more courts means more games means more families arriving in the same fifteen minute window.
Where a venue has a known parking problem, the page says so and suggests where else to look. Where nothing useful is published, the page says that too rather than guessing. This is the single most useful thing on most of these pages and it's the thing least likely to appear on an official website.
Three things save most of the trouble. Which court, because a big venue can have eight and they're not always in a sensible order. What time they need to be there, which is usually well before the listed game time for a warm up. And whether the game is actually at the home venue, because associations use overflow courts at local schools and leisure centres more than people realise.
That last one catches families out constantly, particularly in the bigger associations. A fixture listing a venue you've never heard of is usually a school hall a few suburbs away rather than a mistake, and it's worth looking it up the night before rather than at eight on a Saturday morning.
Check the venue page before a first visit to somewhere new, particularly for an away game or a tryout where you've no idea what you're walking into. After that you won't need it again for that venue.
Details change. Courts get resurfaced, canteens change hands, car parks get reconfigured and associations move home venues between seasons. Every page carries the date it was last checked, and the association's own site is always the final word on where to be and when.
One thing worth knowing across all of them: the court numbering is rarely obvious and rarely signposted well. Courts are often numbered from the far end, or in an order that made sense when a section was added years ago. If you can't find court four, ask at the canteen rather than walking the whole building, because somebody there answers that question forty times a morning.
Many venues charge a small stadium entry or spectator fee, and some include it in registration instead. It varies by association, so check with your club rather than assuming.
Most junior basketball venues have a canteen open on busy mornings, though quality and hours vary enormously. It varies by association and changes often, so check with your club rather than assuming.
Every page in where they play
Next questions parents ask
Every competition in this guide
There are no outside sources on this page. It is written from Cameron's own coaching, from over a decade of junior basketball in Melbourne including rep teams from Under 12s through to Under 18s. Coaching is a matter of judgement, so treat this as one experienced opinion rather than the only way to do it.
This page was last updated September 2026. Think I have this wrong? Tell me.
Tryout windows, grading, key dates and what each level actually costs. Written for Victorian basketball parents, sent when something matters, not every week.