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History

Each year men’s and women’s teams representing their respective state and territories compete at the U16 National Championships, and in doing so, form a vital pathway from participation through to elite competition for the nation’s junior athletes.

These championships allow young Australian basketballers to display their talents against the best athletes in their age group from across the country and provide a pathway to progress through our junior and youth programs to hopefully one day represent Australia.

New South Wales won the inaugural U16 Men’s Championship in 1955 after defeating Victoria and sixteen years later South Australia won the first Women’s Championship in 1971.

In 2008, 53 years after the first Men’s Championship and 37 years after the Women’s Championship was introduced, 28 teams (14 men’s and 14 women’s) from across Australia and New Zealand competed for two national titles with Victoria Country (Men’s) and Victoria Metro (Women’s) walking away with the championships.

Norma Connolly

The championship trophy for the Under 16 women’s Junior National Championship is named after Queensland coaching legend Norma Connolly. Norma has coached at all levels from Under 8’s to Under 18’s and is renowned for developing determined, hard-nosed but effective junior teams.

Norma started coaching juniors in Mackay in the early 1970’s and has since taken many teams to State and National Junior Age Championship as a head coach. Norma coached State Under 16 and Under 18 women for over 20 years, was appointed as Head Coach of the National Junior Development Program for North Queensland in the early 1990’s and was named as a QAS/ITC Head Coach for the junior female program in 1994. The founding Head Coach of the Townsville State High School Basketball program known as the ‘Tropics’, Norma has influenced thousands of players and coaches throughout Queensland during her remarkable career.

Norma is a life member of Mackay Basketball and the show court at Candlestick Park is known as the Connolly Court in her honour, indicating the high regard in which her contribution to Queensland basketball is held. Norma has committed a lifetime of energy and time to basketball and was honoured by Basketball Australia with a Merit Award for her work as Manager of the Australian Junior Women’s team, the Gems in 2003.

In 2007 Norma was inducted into the Basketball Australia Hall of Fame in the Contributor’s category.

 

Robert Young

The Under 16 Men’s National Junior Championship trophy is named in honour of Queensland’s Robert Young. Bob started to play basketball at the Brisbane YMCA and Legacy Club in 1948 as a 14-year-old and would go on to be one of the most influential figures in Queensland basketball.

In 1960, Bob started a career in basketball administration by becoming the Secretary to both the Queensland and Brisbane Basketball Associations. In 1971 he became Secretary of the Australian Junior Basketball Council after three years service on the Executive. He would go on to hold the position of Junior Commissioner from 1986 until 1992.

He has since represented Basketball Australia internationally as an administrator on eight occasions in Europe, Asia, and North America and has been honoured with the Medal of the Order of Australia, the Australian Sports Medal and with Life Memberships of the Queensland and Brisbane Basketball Associations.

In 2006 Robert Young was honoured by Basketball Australia for his lifelong contribution to Basketball with the Lifetime Achievement Award.

 

Year Location Robert Young Shield Norma Connelly Trophy Alternate Female Location
1955 Melbourne New South Wales
1956 Adelaide New South Wales
1957 Sydney Victoria
1958 Devonport New South Wales
1959 Melbourne South Australia
1960 Adelaide South Australia
1961 Toowoomba South Australia
1962 Sydney New South Wales
1963 Hobart New South Wales
1964 Melbourne Victoria
1965 Adelaide South Australia
1966 Wollongong Victoria
1967 Brisbane South Australia
1968 Adelaide Victoria
1969 Perth Victoria
1970 Melbourne New South Wales
1971 Burnie South Australia South Australia Adelaide
1972 Sydney Victoria South Australia Ballarat
1973 Brisbane South Australia New South Wales Nowra
1974 Ballarat Victoria Metro New South Wales Adelaide
1975 Sale Queensland Victoria Ballarat
1976 Bendigo South Australia Metro Queensland Nowra
1977 Adelaide Victoria Metro South Australia Perth
1978 Perth Victoria Metro Victoria Country Brisbane
1979 Devonport Victoria Metro Queensland
1980 Sydney Victoria Metro Victoria Metro Adelaide
1981 Swan Hill Victoria Metro South Australia Sydney
1982 Toowoomba Victoria Metro Victoria Metro Canberra
1983 Canberra Victoria Metro Victoria Metro Perth
1984 Launceston Victoria Metro Victoria Metro Brisbane
1985 Perth Victoria Metro Victoria Country Devonport
1986 Mt Gambier Victoria Metro Victoria Metro Melbourne
1987 Newcastle Victoria Metro Victoria Metro Sydney
1988 Boronia Victoria Metro Victoria Metro Adelaide
1989 Brisbane New South Wales Country Victoria Metro Canberra
1990 Moonah New South Wales Country Victoria Country Mackay
1991 Perth Victoria Metro South Australia Metro Launceston
1992 Albury New South Wales Country Victoria Metro Perth
1993 Adelaide Victoria Metro Victoria Metro Ulverstone
1994 Perth South Australia Metro South Australia Metro Mt Gambier
1995 Geelong South Australia Metro Victoria Metro
1996 Sydney New South Wales Country Victoria Metro
1997 Ballarat Victoria Metro Victoria Metro
1998 Terrigal Victoria Metro New South Wales Country
1999 Devonport Victoria Metro South Australia Metro
2000 Shepparton Victoria Metro Victoria Metro
2001 Brisbane Victoria Metro Victoria Metro
2002 Adelaide Victoria Metro Victoria Metro
2003 Ulverstone Western Australia Metro Victoria Metro
2004 Perth Victoria Metro Victoria Metro
2005 Canberra Victoria Country Victoria Metro
2006 Ballarat Victoria Metro Victoria Metro
2007 Gosford Victoria Metro Victoria Metro
2008 Kalamunda Victoria Country Victoria Metro
2009 Ulverstone Victoria Metro Victoria Metro
2010 Logan New South Wales Metro Victoria Metro
2011 Kilsyth Victoria Metro Victoria Metro
2012 Tamworth Victoria Metro Victoria Metro
2013 Wayville/Pasadena NSW Country Victoria Metro
2014 Geelong NSW Country South Australia Metro
2015 Ulverstone Queensland North Queensland South
2016 Kilsyth Victoria Metro Victoria Metro
2017 Stirling Queensland North Victoria Metro
2018 Sunshine Coast Victoria Metro Victoria Metro
2019 Darwin Victoria Metro Victoria Metro

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Trish Fallon Fair Play Award

As part of Basketball Australia’s ongoing strategy to promote respect of the officials by players, coaching staff and supporters it was decided to introduce the Basketball Australia “Fair Play Award” to the U16 Championships.

The award is to recognise the region that conducts itself in a respectful manner over the course of the Championship. The award, over time, is designed to:

• Promote sportsmanship at a young age
• Encourage respect for the officials
• Foster positive support of team by parents and supporters
• Reward responsible coaching, and
• Generally emphasise the positive values of RESPECT, COMPETITIVE UNDERSTANDING and COOPERATION.

The games played during the Championships are evaluated on six different criteria:

• Technical Fouls
• Positive Play
• Respect toward the Opponent
• Respect towards the Officials
• Behaviour of Team Officials (Coaching Staff, Managers etc.)
• Behaviour of Team Supporters

In 2013, the Fair Play Award at the Under 16 Australian Junior Championships was named after Triple Olympian and Australian Basketball Hall of Famer, Trish Fallon. Trish enjoyed an outstanding basketball career, serving as captain and on-court leader as the Australian Opals emerged as one of the greatest teams in the world.

Trish was a scholarship holder at the former AIS (now Basketball Australia Centre of Excellence) and competed in the U16, U18 and U20 Australian Junior Championships. Starting her international career at 18 years of age, Fallon progressed to play in three Olympics winning a medal at each: Bronze in 1996 – Atlanta, Silver in 2000 – Sydney and 2004 – Athens.

Trish was inducted into the Australian Basketball Hall of Fame in 2010 after playing 224 games for Australia and captaining the Opals 34 times.

Trish also appeared in 251 WNBL games, playing a vital role in two championship teams (Sydney Flames in 1993 and 1997), and also winning the Grand Final MVP trophy in 1997.

Fallon is honoured to lend her name to such an important award, saying: “Whether they win or lose, we should be teaching our kids to be playing the right way and I hope this award stands out among other awards as the one coaches and parents encourage their kids to strive for.”

Previous Recipients of the Trish Fallon Fair Play Award

2004 – Victoria Country
2005 – Queensland North
2006 – Victoria Metro
2007 – Northern Territory
2008 – Tasmania
2009 – Queensland North
2010 – Tasmania
2011 – Northern Territory Men
2012 – Queensland South Women
2013 – New South Wales Metro Women
2014 – Australian Capital Territory Men
2015 – Western Australia Metro Men
2016 – Western Australia Metro Women
2017 – New South Wales Metro Women
2018 – Western Australia Country Men
2019 – Queensland South Women

 

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