North Coast Basketball Programs 2026
North Coast Basketball is changing its structure in 2026
Over the past 5 years, NCB has partnered with Schools and Community groups to deliver classes, academies, camps, and competitions. We run classes and competitions 6 days a week in Coffs Harbour and now realise we have made ourselves ‘too available’ for Coffs Coast players. Over the past 12 months, we have seen a rapid decline in consistent attendance at trainings and competitions which has negatively affected the quality of games and training sessions. We have decided to make the following changes in 2026:
1 – NCB has withdrawn from Bishop Druitt Basketball and will no longer run the BDC Academy, or use their facility for NCB programs and competitions. NCB will focus on our own Academy and be available for all players, regardless of what school they attend.
2 – NCB will no longer run the Men’s ‘Premier League’ or ‘D-League’, or, Saturday Junior North Coast Basketball League. In 2025, we saw consistent absences in all leagues, majority cases without communication, which negatively affected the quality of the competition. Running the 3 x Leagues requires a lot of time and energy and we have decided to prioritise our time towards more ‘Regional Sessions’ and spend our weekends investing in players & communities outside of the Coffs Coast.
3 – Introduction of ‘Elite’ & ‘Academy’ sessions. Our coaches have identified players in every age group along the coast to enter our ‘Elite’ program. Players will be placed into consistent training groups with players of equal ability and compete in Smaller Group sessions and Elite Scrimmages. Elite members will be required to go through physical testing every term and participate in strength & fitness sessions at our warehouse / regional elite sessions. Elite lists will be sent out Friday 30th January.
Our ‘Academy’ program athletes will receive more fundamental skills training and is open to all players. Academy players will be assessed and can be moved up into Elite classes once they complete baseline skill & fitness testing scores, and consistently compete at an elite standard each session.
4 – Increased sessions in Hastings, Northern Rivers, & West regions. All regional players that participated in 2025 camps & programs will be sent a form to complete which will help our team organise sessions in their local region. Our goal is to visit every town, however this will be subject to court availability and players may be required to travel to neighbouring towns nearby. If you are outside of Coffs Harbour, please complete the following form: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSc1sPg7GFb-eEdOMWOFpX2TD1oDMq1GfwwVfBl38BS_LIoiyw/viewform?usp=header
5 – Change our Coffs Coast schedule. We will no longer hold large group trainings at BDC and will be moving all sessions to our Warehouse & Sportz Central morning sessions. NCB will hold classes every afternoon out of our Warehouse, and morning sessions every Tuesday & Thursday at Sportz Central. Tuesday mornings will be our Elite AAU Scrimmages where players compete in structured full court games. Thursday mornings will focus on skills training where players prioritise shooting and fundamental skills. We will also have sessions in Nambucca on a Wednesday afternoon. Players will compete in drills and 1v1 games against players of similar age and ability. If you are a player that wants to train each week on the Coffs Coast, complete the following form - https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSclZ5R-Rh3gLFiu-n2dLx0rkOxmt2fs1KF5eJs_A5Dizix7rA/viewform?usp=header
AAU Events 2026
AAU NSW - April 4th & 5th (Easter Weekend) @ Sydney – Hills Basketball Stadium
AAU NSW - August 22nd & 23rd @ Port Macquarie – Port Macquarie Indoor Sports Stadium
AAU NSW - October (Date TBC) @ Sydney – Venue TBC
AAU NSW - June & December (events pending)
AAU QLD – July Elite Tour
AAU USA - December USA Tour
What’s Next?
North Coast Basketball is excited for the addition of Coach Will McFee to our coaching team. Coach Will & his family will arrive at the end of March and will start running camps and clinics during the April School Holidays. Once Will has arrived, our team can increase the number of regional sessions in Term 2 and be more available for players outside of Coffs Harbour.
Once Will and his family have settled into Woolgoolga, our team will start making the steps to form a new regional league that focuses on providing games to players & regions that are not in the state representative league. Town such as Woolgoolga, Grafton, and Yamba are too small to have their own competition and cannot enter many representative teams due to referees, travel, cost, and other guidelines. With the recent decision to ban Braves players from representative basketball, our team will create a season for all players that have missed out on NJL or NEJL basketball.
The “Clarence to Coast’ League will be a competition that will rotate between Woolgoolga, Grafton, and Yamba each week. Players will be divided into even teams and compete against players local & out of town. Player, referee, and coaches development will be an important focus for the league and provide safe environment for all members to grow & learn a higher standard of basketball.
We are very excited for what 2026 has instore for NCB and look forward to helping players achieve their basketball goals and raise the standard of Basketball on the North Coast of NSW.