Midnight Basketball Australia - FAQs

There is loads of information on the About page. If there is anything else you would like to know please give us a call at Midnight Basketball Australia - we would love to hear from you.

Yes. Midnight Basketball Australia is the owner of Midnight Basketball in Australia (organisation and Trade Mark – ie owns the statutory right to exclusive use of Midnight Basketball.) We encourage and support all Australian communities who meet the requirements.

What does Midnight Basketball Australia contribute? 
Midnight Basketball Australia has been running Midnight Basketball for many years and has developed a strong reputation throughout the Australian community, particularly in relation to providing a structure that is safe and supports all local teenagers. Midnight Basketball Australia is always looking to support communities and the volunteers who run local Midnight Basketball® Tournaments, in providing the highest duty of care to the teenagers who attend the nights by ensuring processes developed over a long period are in place. To give you an idea, some of these include:

• WWC checks for all personnel involved – both volunteer and if any are paid;
• adequate community volunteers to form the local Midnight Basketball community Management Team;
• qualified volunteers by defined roles - approximately 20-30 depending on number of teams - on Tournament nights for the differing roles and safety;
• nutritious meals – this is an example of the high bar we set together- so no junk food, soft drink etc - in line with our fundraising guidelines;
• skills sessions that are motivating and fun;
• structured and efficient nightly schedule as part of the well structured Tournament setup guidelines; and
• transport home for every player.

We also provide a lot of other ongoing support to ensure your Tournament is fantastic. For example

Can I use the term Midnight Basketball to run my own Tournament?

No. Midnight Basketball Australia owns the name and trade mark ‘Midnight Basketball’.  See above.

We absolutely understand that each community knows if the Midnight Basketball Australia Tournament Model is applicable to their local needs. If you feel we don’t align with what you need you can run your own event, however it must not contain Midnight Basketball in its name or reference Midnight Basketball in any way, or use any of the Tournament Model systems/IP.

We encourage you to visit our New locations page and if aligned to your community, please apply via the Form - or call us if you have any questions.

If Midnight Basketball has been approved to run in your community, everyone aged 12-18 looking for a positive, fun activity to enjoy while building skills and confidence, is welcome to join and it costs nothing to enter.

Every night of each Tournament includes dinner, motivational skills sessions, competition basketball games and a bus home. See About for more information.

Included in tournament nights for all participants - a nutritious dinner, team uniforms (player singlets) and bus home - all dropped to front door at night’s end (or collected by an authorised Parent/Legal guardian).

In basketball stadiums in local communities, who are approved by Midnight Basketball Australia.

If you would like to get Midnight Basketball in your community - town or suburb, see Start a new location.

The most common question and an important one as we are true believers in the power and benefit of all team and organised sport as a mechanism for good and a great way to impart life skills for teenagers … actually for everyone. Basketball is a fast, fun and inclusionary game. And while we know the actual sport is not important per se, we choose basketball as the optimal sport to cater for all our requirements and align with the values that drive our inclusionary culture:

• It caters to all areas of sporting ability (some sports require a specific skills even at entry level which would exclude some players)
• It is a magnet to teenagers
• It is played on basketball courts (which are small enough to house indoors) so can be held inside, important from a safety, climate and enjoyment (think darkness and rain) perspective - given it involves up to 100 people - players and volunteers – each night till midnight.
• And it is an amazing fun social and competition team sport.

These are all important to creating our happy, high energy and safe environments.

The second most asked question and also a good one. We want teenagers to develop life-long healthy habits while thoroughly enjoying and benefitting from this fun social period of the week. Every week. Building habits for the rest of their lives.

Midnight Basketball is a prosocial, high energy, exercise and life lesson wrapped up in a fun, social nighttime activity.

We all want teenagers to get together with their mates and their community, let the steam off after a hard week and then go home worn out - to be well asleep by midnight.

Midnight Basketball provides this.

We know it takes some extra effort and support to provide these kind of activities. We have taken this into account as we updated the Midnight Basketball Tournament Model to make it easier to run this kind of activity safely, effectively and professionally. Having run over 250 tournaments around the country over 10 years, we have learnt about and understand a lot more about this period of the week, what it takes and how to optimise the experience for everyone involved including the volunteers. We are just so happy to have teenagers out on weekend nights, then tired out and in bed by Midnight to get some unaffected, important sleep in preparation for a fun and restorative weekend.

We are serious about changing our old-fashioned, out-dated and frankly, tiresome cultural attachment to binge drinking and other harmful and unhealthy activities. Everyone is involved in this change including the teenagers. And we have been told enough times, teenagers don’t want to be lectured about building healthy habits and avoiding unhealthy substances and activities by adults - then not provided with alternative activities. We are walking the talk and promoting Midnight Basketball and any other activity that is fun and healthy as a proactive way to build a new weekend culture and support our teenager's developing brains not affected by alcohol and substance abuse. And provide an experience that mirrors it.

The new norm will align and build upon the neuroscience and common sense ... with teenagers aligned with best practice principles of feeling included and supported by community, socialising with existing and new friends, nutrition, getting physical exercise and high quality sleep. Benefitting all the teenagers and the local community. We believe in this so deeply. The proven, healthy way to enjoy weekend nights. Couldn't be prouder of everyone involved.

These are the weekend nights. To support the development of good, regular sleep patterns to be ready for school five days a week, Midnight Basketball would not make sense on other pre-weekday nights.

If you would like, please welcome your parents or guardians to come along, join us for dinner and watch the games. Please read the Tournament Night Rules as these are strictly implemented for everyone attending (ie, including spectators) so we have the same rules for everyone in the stadium. Everyone safe. Everyone happy.

Yes please !!!!! We not only love to hear your thoughts and feedback and new ideas - they are vital to our success. Please email us - see Contacts link at bottom of page. We love getting suggestions, ideas for improvement or other feedback or questions – or let someone know on Tournament night.

See > Setup an account and register FAQs below.

Midnight Basketball is free for all participants.

You do not need sporting or basketball skills but do need to be able bodied (contact us if not sure).

You will be given a team singlet each night on arrival, which must be handed back to your Coach before you leave each night. Please wear suitable clothes to play basketball in such as sports shoes (must be covered shoes with lace/tie ups– no thongs or sandals) and shorts. No caps, hats or jewellery can be worn during the games so are best left at home. Girls are advised to wear a singlet top under their basketball singlet as the sleeves are quite low.

Buses will take all players home unless your registered Parent/Legal Guardian OR a person registered by your Parent/Legal Guardian is there to sign you out. All other players must depart on the buses after their final match of the night. The aim is to get everyone home by Midnight.

See > Setup an account and register FAQs below.

You can volunteer at Midnight Basketball from the age of 12 (will require Parent/Legal guardian permission).  If you’d like to be a junior volunteer, ensure you check the ‘Do I need a Working with Children Check (WWC) to volunteer if UNDER 18?’ - as WWC requirements vary from State to State.

Yes. Everyone attending a Tournament night (except for Players) needs to have a valid WWC.

Volunteer WWC requirements if under 18:

State/Territory	Age	Required/Not required	Further information
NSW	17 or under	Not required	Link
Victoria	17 or under	Not required	Link – see ‘5  You are not otherwise exempt’
Queensland	17 or under	WWC type =Volunteer - Not required
	17 or under	WWC type=Paid/Employee - Required	Link – see ‘Under 18 years of age'
NT	14 or under	Not required
	15 or over	Required	Link – see ‘Young workers’
SA	13 and under	Not required	Link
	14 and over	Required. IF >7 days.
WA	17 or under	WWC type =Volunteer - Not required	Link – see ‘Exemptions across all categories’
	17 or under	WWC type=Paid/Employee - Required

The process for applying for / renewing a Working with Children (WWC) Check is different in each State/Territory.

If you are undertaking a paid role you must hold a paid (Employee) WWC clearance. It is an offence in all States/Territories to receive payment if you hold a volunteer WWC clearance.

New South Wales

• WWC information (including renewal)
• Apply for a WWC Check
  • For 'Child-related sector' select 'Clubs or other bodies providing services to children'.
  • Ensure details entered exactly match details on your identity documents.
• Renew a WWC Check

Northern Territory

• Contact Midnight Basketball Australia

Queensland

• WWC information (including renewal)
• Apply for / renew a WWC Check
  • If applying for a volunteer Blue Card for the first time:
    • Provide your account number and DOB to your Volunteer Manager
    • Your Volunteer Manager will link you to Midnight Basketball
    • Once linked, complete your online application

South Australia

• Contact Midnight Basketball Australia

Victoria

• Contact Midnight Basketball Australia

Western Australia

• Contact Midnight Basketball Australia

To be sustainable we rely on and are extraordinarily grateful for volunteers. We also know there are many benefits volunteers report back. Deep caring engagement. Kindness. Understanding of local issues. Who needs a hand. Who and where to find expertise in different areas. The list is endless and becomes more and more profound, beneficial, effective and sustainable over time. We believe that to build an inclusionary culture in this kind of community activity, volunteering has to be at its heart.

The Midnight Basketball Tournament Model has inbuilt learnings from running tournaments (over 250) in communities across Australia over a long period from many, many individuals and we have combined this with best practice research and best practice principles. And what we know works. Who is best to actually run it? We know that the best people to run local Midnight Basketball tournaments are the communities themselves. While Midnight Basketball Australia provide the Tournament System and Tournament Model and other national support, we are all proponents of communities supporting their own community. Communities know their own community best and will run it most effectively while ensuring that local issues are most effectively and inclusively highlighted and addressed.

As an adult you have developed many life skills either through family, study, work, hobbies or being involved in your community. The ability for you to demonstrate what you have learnt by role modelling positive behaviours and providing opportunities for local teenagers to meet new people is an invaluable experience for our teenagers and also for yourself.

Absolutely not. All community members across all ages, diversity, backgrounds and cultural groups are welcome and encouraged to be involved in Midnight Basketball. This is what creates the rich environment and everyone who has attended will attest to the profound nature of this in action.

Comfortable, relaxed, neat clothing, with runners, flats or other enclosed shoes. No thongs are allowed.

You don't need to bring anything with you. No money is required. Please do not bring lollies, soft drink, fast food, cigarettes or other harmful items into Midnight Basketball Tournaments. Water is provided.

No and further, you are not permitted to. Midnight Basketball provides local buses and drivers, with supervisors, all with valid WWC, to drive each Midnight Basketball player home to their doorstep at the end of the Tournament Night.

Yes. A nutritious meal is provided to all Midnight Basketball Players and Volunteers. Midnight Basketball promotes healthy habits so of course we don't have any fast food, lollies or soft drinks to be part of the food provided or available on Tournament Nights. The environment is role modelling healthy behaviour for all including our teenagers. Water is also provided. Make yourself welcome at team tables with the Players for dinner, even if you have eaten - rather than standing around watching - and it’s a great way to get to know each other.

No, not at all. There are many other tasks/opportunities that are required to keep Midnight Basketball running smoothly, including help with dinner and setting up skills sessions, and other activities throughout the night. Tournament organisers will match your skills and interests with the tasks on the night.

It is tremendously important to the ethic of Midnight Basketball that the Code of Conduct applies to everyone. We can hardly ask our teenagers to modify their behaviour if, as adults, we aren't prepared to also.  Examples include smoking, swearing, courtesy and other behaviours that appear on the Code of Conduct along with the Midnight Basketball Rules. By showing this leadership, you will be supporting the Tournament Night Manager and volunteers in implementing these positive behaviours and helping our teenagers learn by example. Walking the talk is one of the most powerful ways to demonstrate values and behaviour.

Smoking (or vaping) is not permitted during Midnight Basketball Tournament nights (including breaks - don't kid yourself, they will smell it on you) by Players, Volunteers or spectators. Midnight Basketball aims to create healthy environments that role model healthy behaviour for teenagers and as outlined above supports the Players’ Code of Conduct.

We are supporting volunteers to prepare for volunteering at Midnight Basketball by 'Giving Up the Smokes'. Keep in mind Midnight Basketball is strictly a non-smoking environment and we are proud to support this important part of the Code of Conduct and Rules of Midnight Basketball given the high numbers of teenagers still taking up smoking. You will find the players look up to you and by not bringing cigarettes or smoking during the night you are helping them in their efforts to give up smoking permanently and helping us to reinforce this important health message by walking the talk. They appreciate the adults supporting their Code of Conduct. Visit the Quitline Website for information to reinforce the dangers ... as if you needed it .. but also sources of practical and professional help. Support our teenagers by supporting yourself. Ring us if you need a helping hand.

As always, we appreciate everything you bring to change the life trajectory of our amazing Midnight Basketballers.

Each Tournament Night will have a Tournament Night Manager. Please approach only the Tournament Night Manager who will advise what to do next.

You or your organisation will more than likely have materials available that can be adapted to fit the Midnight Basketball skills session format. There are also packaged session materials available for the weeks 1 and 2 sessions. The Management Team Skills Session Manager can supply you with these.

Teenagers (the Players) aged 12-18 years.

You will present the session from one to three or four times (depending on space and number of teams) on the same night.

• Midnight Basketball Australia - the national body that owns and oversees the Midnight Basketball^® Tournament Model.
  MBAustralia: shortened version if needed, such as in a document filename or in a technical document. Never use for public purposes.
  MBA is NOT used as it has the connotation of an official Basketball Australia program and creates confusion with local/national NBL, NBA, state and local Associations under the Basketball Australia umbrella. To clarify:
  • Midnight Basketball is a social inclusion mechanism that has a standalone purpose of providing more positive activities for teenagers on Friday and Saturday nights via the late-night social basketball tournaments.
  • It has a further objective to pathway children and teenagers in to Basketball Australia affiliated community Associations and Clubs to play official basketball competitions (ie, it is NOT an association or club - they exist already). 
• Midnight Basketball^® - individual community Tournaments approved to run by Midnight Basketball Australia – for consistency, always write in this format with words ‘Midnight Basketball^®’ first, eg Midnight Basketball^® Mildura
  The brand and name are interchangeable – every time you use it, it builds the brand; everytime you use it, the brand supports uplift for local teenagers. Treat it with care and help to build a powerful brand we are all proud of.
• The Midnight Basketball^® Tournament Model - all communities currently run the Tournament Model - the ongoing social competitions within a community which includes cycles of 8 week Tournaments. Tournament cycles repeat after the initial two year pilot period if approved.
• Midnight Basketball^® Tournament - one sequential 8 week Tournament on Friday or Saturday nights.
• Midnight Basketball community Program Participant - the entity we enter into an agreement with, after Expression of Interest is approved. The most common organisational type is local City or regional Shire Councils. The Program Participant signs the Program Participant Agreement with Midnight Basketball Australia and is responsible, amongst other things, for ensuring the Midnight Basketball Australia Tournament Model is adhered to and auspicing the funds locally. Program Participants are required to be registered for GST, have audited accounts and be a suitable organisation for a largely volunteer driven activity working with teenagers in a late night competition.
• Midnight Basketball community Management Team - a volunteer community team representative of diverse community sectors and backgrounds, containing nine specified roles. These members utilise the Tournament Model, the online Tournament System and materials to manage the setting up and running of each 8 week Tournament, including reporting to Midnight Basketball Australia and other stakeholders.
• Tournament Night Volunteers - volunteers who assist the running of each Tournament night (depending on the role, can volunteer for just one week or all weeks per Tournament). Some roles require more experienced, qualified or certified people (for example, licensed bus drivers, qualified referees, certified security officers), while other roles are trained to undertake either prior to the night as part of volunteer induction or on the night. These roles are not paid.

• FIBA - International Basketball Federation.
• NSO - National Sporting Organisation – Basketball Australia is an NSO.
• NBL - National professional competition for men in Australia (not auspiced by Basketball Australia).
• WNBL - National professional competition for women in Australia (auspiced by Basketball Australia).
• Club basketball - often referred to as Domestic Basketball but we will refer to it as Club Basketball as this is clearer to a wider range of stakeholders, particularly those outside the sport.
• Club Basketball is for players, at any age, who enjoy the game at their local basketball associations or clubs (under the umbrella of Basketball Australia).
• Representative Basketball - representative Basketball, also available from Junior through to Senior, provides opportunities for participants to compete at the highest levels. While clearly not all participants will reach the peak, a key driver is a determination to win Junior State Club Championships, participate in Junior State teams and compete at National Championships. From there, their ambitions stretch to representing Australia as a Junior and Senior, playing at college and playing professionally either in Australia or overseas.