Tamworth's junior sides fine-tuned for the representative season with a series of trial games against Maitland in Tamworth on Sunday.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The Mustangs' visit was part of a reciprocal arrangement with the Thunderbolts heading down to Maitland late last year.
The games were a valuable hit-out ahead of the tip-off of the Northern Junior League and Eastern Junior League/Northern Junior League Championship Division next month.
"It’s really like going on stage and seeing where you are up to," Tamworth Basketball Association coaching director Neil Gaffney said.
"And Maitland are a really strong association."
Gaffney said the sides are progressing well, although they are "playing catch-up" a bit. Because of the hot weather they haven't trained as much as they usually would.
"It’s really early days for us," he said, adding that the games were a good chance for the sides to gel and put into practice what they have been learning in training.
One of the things the coaches have been working hard with the kids on is the new "flow" offence system being adopted by the NSW sides.
"We're trying to expose the kids so that when they get to the next level they know what they're doing," Gaffney said.
He said the Servies Super Slam, the second season of which launches this week, will be great for the 16s and 18s girls sides with many of the players involved in that.
One of the reasons there was such a strong push to get a women's A grade competition up and running again was to expose the older junior Thunderbolts, and the Thunderbolts senior players, to regular competitive basketball.
"They’ll be going hard at it," Gaffney said.
He will get a first-hand look as a coach of one of the four sides.
This year is a milestone one for the TBA as they turn 50. To commemorate that, all the rep sides are sporting new playing uniforms.
The 18-women, 16-women, 16-men and 14-men 1's sides will be the first of the 15 Thunderbolts sides to hit the court, and will do so at home with Tamworth hosting the first round of the championship division on March 16 and 17.
The Division 1 NJL sides head over to Port Macquarie the following weekend, and the Division 2 sides the weekend after that.