Dear Kangaroos families,

At Kangaroos, our goal has always been to create a positive, inclusive, and enjoyable basketball experience for every child in our club. We are passionate about providing opportunities for kids to learn, grow, build friendships, and develop a lifelong love of the game.

As our club continues to grow, we are always looking for ways to better support our players, families, and volunteers while continuing to strengthen our community-focused approach to basketball.

With this in mind, from Season 2 2026 (commencing late July), we will be introducing a new training model designed to provide more consistent skill development, greater flexibility for families, and an even more enjoyable training environment for our players.

A new approach to training – Season 2

Commencing this forthcoming season, we will move to age-group based skills sessions for Under 8's through to under 14's inclusive.  the age groups below.   There will be multiple sessions available for each age group across Saturday and Sunday afternoons, allowing families to choose a session time that best suits them.  The training sesssion timings are listed below.

Age groups from under 16’s through to seniors will continue to have individual team based training sessions. 

Please note that training times may be refined once registrations for Season 2 are confirmed. The number of sessions available for each age group will be determined by player numbers, allowing us to provide appropriately sized groups and the best possible training experience for our players.

One of the exciting parts of this new model is that training sessions will be delivered by qualified paid coaches through our partnership with Hornsby Ku-ring-gai Basketball Association. We believe this is a fantastic opportunity for our players to learn from experienced coaches in a fun and supportive environment, while also helping ease the pressure on parent volunteers to run weekly training sessions.

Training in larger age-group sessions also means players will have the chance to meet and train with other Kangaroos teams, creating a more energetic and social atmosphere. It also gives families greater flexibility — if a few players are unavailable one week, sessions can still run smoothly with strong numbers and plenty of opportunity for learning and game play.

This approach will also allow us to:

• Offer more consistent and structured skill development
• Provide greater flexibility for families
• Continue managing rising venue and court hire costs responsibly

What this means for coaches

Our volunteer coaches remain an incredibly important part of Kangaroos and the club community. This change does not affect game-day coaching, and each team will still require a coach to manage and support players during games throughout the season.

We also warmly encourage coaches who would like to stay involved in player development to attend and participate in training sessions alongside players. Supporting and developing our volunteer coaches is something we are keen to continue building into the future, and we look forward to sharing more opportunities in this space.

At this stage, this model will not extend to Under 16s and older age groups. We will review the program throughout the season and welcome feedback from families, players, and coaches as we continue refining our approach.

Cost considerations

One of the advantages of this new training model is that it allows us to make more efficient use of our court hire. By running larger age-group sessions, we can maximise participation on each court while maintaining a quality training experience. This helps offset much of the additional cost of engaging qualified coaches.

While this model does increase the club's investment in player development, Kangaroos has made the decision to keep any additional costs to families to a minimum for Season 2, 2026. We recognise that many households are facing cost-of-living pressures and remain committed to ensuring that basketball continues to be affordable and accessible for all families.

As we move into 2027, we will review the program and its long-term costs. Any future adjustments will be carefully considered, with our priority remaining the delivery of a high-quality basketball experience that is both sustainable and accessible for our community.

We are genuinely excited about this next step for Kangaroos and the opportunities it will create for our players and families. 

Thank you, as always, for your ongoing support and for being part of our wonderful club community.

Kind regards,

KKBC Committee