At Puma Willetton Basketball Club, we understand the profound impact that positive experiences in junior competition can have on a child's lifelong relationship with sports. Our primary mission is to cultivate a safe, enjoyable, and inclusive environment that fosters maximum individual participation. In line with these values, we have certain expectations of our dedicated coaches. These include:

1. Planning training sessions and tailoring them to meet individual needs and development rates
2. Instruct players in sports skills, rules and etiquette
3. Encourage pro-social behaviours and discourage antisocial behaviours in players
4. Give feedback to players to help improve skills
5. Evaluate the success of the teaching process
6. Supervise players at all times
7. Ensure players represent the club positively
8. Protect the welfare of players and ensure they are not exposed to unnecessary risk
9. Be aware of PUMA and WBA policies including regarding child protection and zero tolerance to harassment
10. Adhere to any applicable Puma, WBA and BWA Code of Conduct
11. Report any issues or feedback to Age Coordinators
12. We encourage Coaches to become accredited to at least Community Coach (level 0)

The position of a team manager is paramount to the efficient operation of a team. Team managers serve as key communicators between parents of players, the club, and stadium officials. Additionally, they provide crucial administrative support to the coach.

As a team manager, your roles and responsibilities include:

1. Distribute uniform and merchandise and collect it back in at the end of the season
2. Draw up a parents scoring roster
3. Establish communication methods with parents and players. PUMA recommends the use of WhatsApp.
4. Act as liaison between Coach, parents, players and the club (ie your Age Coordinator)
5. Assist your Age Coordinator with information about your players and the team. Obtain indication of returning players for the next season when requested by Age Coordinator.
6. Monitor fixtures and communicate any late changes to the team
7. Ensure correct players and numbers are entered on the scoring tablet prior to the commencement of each game
8. Arrange any wind-up if required
9. Ensure players represent the club positively
10. Protect the welfare of players and ensure they are not exposed to unnecessary risk
11. Be aware of PUMA and WBA policies including regarding child protection and zero tolerance to harassment
12. Adhere to any applicable Puma, WBA and BWA Code of Conduct
13. Report any issues or feedback to Age Coordinators, including player injury (and complaints also to Chief Registrar)

Placement of Players in Teams

As part of Puma Willetton Basketball Club's commitment to providing a dynamic and fulfilling experience for all players, it's essential to understand how teams are formed each season. Players register to the club as individuals, not specific teams, enabling us to carefully construct teams based on several key factors. Our team formation process considers the total number of players at the club, accommodating inevitable player movements due to shifts in seasons and individual interests.

In addition to this, the committee has to take a number of factors into account when putting teams together from the previous season. These include, but are not limited to:

• Total number of players at the club - when seasons change Puma have a number of players leave to participate in other sports and activities, which means player movement within teams is unavoidable.
• Players ability - Puma believes that organising players into teams based on their similar abilities provides the optimal environment for individual development and enjoyment of basketball. This approach ensures that all players have equal opportunities to grow their skills and actively participate in games.
• Coaching feedback - it is important that we take into account the coaches feedback and their opinions on where players should be placed.
• Observations - the committee and age coordinators actively watch games from within the age groups to ensure any changes that are made are the best decision for all players at the club.
• Finally friendships - it is important that we consider friendships where possible, however, sport organically renders new friendships and is a great opportunity for all children to make new friends with like minded hobbies (basketball being one).

Additionally, we prioritise organising players into teams based on similar abilities, ensuring optimal development and enjoyment for everyone involved.

Coaches' valuable feedback and observations during games further guide team placements, while fostering friendships remains a consideration whenever possible.

Team Numbers 

The preferred number of players in each team is 8. Sometimes, at the Coordinator’s discretion, teams may be allocated 7 or 9 players.

In situations requiring additional players, coaches may enlist "fill-in" players to avoid forfeits or to complete a team of 6 players. However, it's crucial to ensure that "fill-in" players are eligible for the competition and comply with divisional age requirements.

Coaches seeking fill-in players should communicate with their age coordinator, adhering to representative player cap rules when necessary.

If “filling-in” for a higher grade, players must be turning the eligible age for that division in the next calendar year, e.g a 12s player filling in for 14s this year must be in the higher age bracket of the 12s age group.

Note that players can only play a maximum of 4 games in higher divisions than they are currently registered.

For each season, after the Junior Sub Committee grading meeting has happened the competition grid will be created. After this has been completed, the available training courts at Willetton Stadium, ASC and Striker Leeming will be allocated to the clubs. PUMA will also have booked other outside venues for training.

PUMA will try to allocate training half courts to our teams. Every effort will be made to allocate the same court as the teams had in the previous season, BUT this is not always possible. Sometimes the courts available do not match the specific requirements of a team or the court is no longer available. Early training times and courts where the rings can be lowered must go to the younger teams. Times are mostly only available before game times at Willetton Stadium.

PUMA may also allocate 3 teams of similar ability and age to a squad training. Court space and available times are scarce and sharing resources may need to be introduced as a result. Some PUMA squad training has already been introduced as a new concept to PUMA but has been used previously with success by other clubs.

Please advise if a team decides to find their own court. The comparable value to allocations by Willetton and PUMA will be provided to the team(s) who organise their own court. The cost of training courts allocated by PUMA is to shared by all players in their season fees.

The PUMA club colours are yellow/gold and black with white and grey trim. PUMA teams should wear the yellow/gold strip unless there is a clash with another PUMA team. 

ByLaw - Team A to reverse their playing tops eg Puma Team A to wear black and Puma Team B to wear Gold unless they can agree otherwise. The Puma yellow/gold strip will not clash with any other club colours.

Fill in Players must wear the same playing top as the team they are filling in for. For this reason each team has been provided with a #0 playing jersey which is to only be used by a fill-in player. If more than one fill in player is required, each player must wear a different number. The team manager is responsible for holding onto the #0 playing jersey, this should be brought to all games in case a fill in is required, there is a blood rule or player doesn't turn up with a top.

Willetton Junior Competition Domestic black shorts are compulsory and can be purchased for $30 from the Willetton Stadium Reception.

Playing tops are supplied each season on loan as part of your season fees. Tops must be returned to the Team Manager or Coach after the last game played for the team each season.

Players may have favourite numbers, but the priority is to supply a good size top for the player. Managers are asked shuffle tops in the team set to get the correct size and then request extra tops where necessary. Best efforts with numbers are possible but requests cannot be guaranteed.

Players must be in full uniform at games or the Referees will enforce an out of uniform 5 point penalty per player.

Playing tops are on loan to players as part of their Season Fees. Any loss or damage is the responsibility of the family. A replacement top will be supplied at a $50 Fee. The damaged or lost top belongs to Puma.

The club may choose to impose a $20 cleaning fee if required. Playing tops are not to be used in any competition or training session other than for the Willetton Basketball Junior Competition/Puma training session unless the Puma Committee has approved another use.

Community Coaching Course

Basketball WA provide a free community coaching course which is completed online. This course gives a really good starting point of what to coach, how to coach, drills to use and what to expect when coaching. Recently we have requested some of our established coaches complete this course and the feedback we received was that they wished they had completed it before going into coaching. We highly recommend that all our coaches undertake this course. To get started, click on the link below:

etrainu - LMS | custom eLearning

Training Resources 

We highly recommend Jr NBA as a great resource for training. The videos on the site are fantastic and show you how to get the most out of each drill. Please have a look at the site below once you have completed the above course. These drills will make a lot more sense if you have completed the Community Coaching Course above.

• Rookie Practice Plans - NBA.com: Jr. NBA
• Starter Practice Plans - NBA.com: Jr. NBA
• All Star Practice Plans - NBA.com: Jr. NBA

At Puma, we prioritise fair and equal court time for all players, ensuring that every member of our club has the opportunity to contribute to the game.

It's a fundamental club requirement that every player receives reasonable court time in every game throughout the season. We are committed to maintaining equality in court time allocation, ensuring that each player has the chance to develop their skills and contribute to the team's success.

To promote a balanced and inclusive team environment, we ask that coaches rotate players to start games. This practice helps prevent the development of a "starting five" or "bench player" mentality, fostering a culture of teamwork and shared responsibility among our players.

While we strive for equal court time, it's essential to recognise that player attitude and behaviour may influence playing time. Coaches, exercising discretion, may adjust court time for disciplinary reasons, emphasising the importance of respect and sportsmanship both on and off the court.

If there are any questions or concerns regarding court time allocation, we encourage coaches, managers and parents to reach out to the Teams Coordinator for guidance and clarification. We are committed to upholding our values of fairness, inclusion, and development for all members of the Puma Basketball Club.

• Coaches should read and understand the:
  • Willetton Junior Basketball By-laws; and
  • Code of Conduct -The “Willetton Way”; and
  • Special rules for 8s and 10s - especially the rules relating to the eligibility of players, team responsibilities, and specially modified rules for younger age groups.
• “Working with Children” or a Member Protection Declaration are necessary as required by legislation and WBA policy.