Whilst ACBA is an independent basketball association, we still have our own representative program which aims to provide talent members of the association an opportunity to develop their personal games and compete against other representative teams and associations within Australia and around the world.

In order to achieve our objectives, ACBA is currently developing a policy relating to our representative program and is broken down into the following five stages of the ACBA Player Lifecycle:

1. Junior Development I – Age 5 to 12 years 
2. Junior Development II – Age 13 to 18 years
3. Senior Development I – Development Team
4. Senior Development II – ACBA Tigers 
5. Senior Development III – ACBA Dragons & ACBA Queen Beez

At present, ACBA has basketball teams representing the association in the following categories:

• The Junior Dragons and Cubs represent our 5 to 12 years age group and participate in local Run Ball competitions.
• The Development Team comprises of players participating in Division 2 or lower of our tournament and provides these players an opportunity to compete in Division 1 or Premier League.
• The Tigers is the next stage and many squad members have come through the Development Team program. The Tigers will participate in the annual ACBA tour at the end of each year.
• The Queen Beez are our women’s team that participates in our end of year tour.
• The Dragons comprises of elite players who currently compete in high level domestic competitions such as the Waratah ABL or NSW State League.

All ACBA representative teams have a structure coaching program prepared by the experienced coaches and train at least once a week throughout the year. Open trials for the Development Team, Tigers and Dragons squads occur once a year and is open to all members of ACBA who current compete in our tournament.

Since 1998, the end of year tour has been a regular fixture on the ACBA calendar and is the highlight of the ACBA representative program. The tours are designed to coincide with the World Invitation Basketball Tournament for Chinese, which is held in a different venue around the world annually. Whilst this tournament is primarily for the veteran’s team, ACBA always takes the opportunity to take the youth men’s and women’s teams on the trip to play exhibition games against the locals.

For the youth teams, these tours are not only an opportunity to play against foreign players, but it also serves as a cultural experience for all. During each tour, the teams have an opportunity to visit many of the key tourist attractions which the host country is famous for.

Although the competition is fierce, as guests we are always warmly welcomed and treated with respect. It is not unusual for the youth teams to interact socially with the host team after the game and for cultural exchanges to occur at a popular nightspot. Our tours allow for new friendships to be made, as well as memorable exchanges between people of vastly different cultures.