Academy & School

I think my program may have been a unique experience in comparison to others.

At our academy, not all players went to the same school. I was one of the students that didn’t attend the Academy school.

Practice Schedule

We had team training on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays. A few others and I also had women’s training on a Tuesday’s. In addition to this we had we had Strength and Conditioning training 3 times a week and additional skill development sessions were offered to us during school day. I was unable to attend however, used my own school facilities to shoot during free time.

Game Schedule 

WEABL games were played on Wednesday.

Level Of Competition (WEABL)

It is a guarantee that the competition will be a high standard. For those who aspire to go to the States, it is good for exposure, especially for those who chose to take a third year raising the level of competition. In my first year of WEABL, there was a high volume of third year players. It was always tough competition playing against these teams.

Considerations of playing in a WEABL program

Willingness of individual to commit to schedule playing at a high level alongside meeting academic requirements. I cannot say that it is easy. Time management is key. If you are unable to manage commitments it can become difficult.

I see some of the players who are in the programme struggle managing their school workload alongside basketball and therefore must cut down on basketball or stop all together. It’s worth considering if you would be able to manage the time and stress of education and basketball.

WEABL v Secondary School Competitions
I never got the chance to play in school competition but have watched this level. It tends to be one National league player who carries a team full of players who may only play in the park. At WEABL/EABL, most of the roster is strong enough to play in games. Whilst you still get stand out players, the whole roster can compete at a high level.

WEABL v NBL 

WEABL is better competition in comparison to National League u18s/u16s. It is also worth considering Academy teams will potentially train multiple times a day in comparison to u18s/u16s leagues teams.

Academy level – we don’t tend to get blowouts and normally the u19s players contribute to this.

U18s girls – the competition does tend to get slightly better, but I’d say that applies more for the south than the north but that’s a whole different conversation. There are still only a few teams that really compete at a high level and its evident which teams have that academy structure, and which teams don’t.

U16s girls – there tends to be a handful of teams that compete whilst the rest get blown out every game.