Southern Cross Program 2026

The Southern Cross Program is the beginning of the performance program representative team pathway for athletes and coaches. It is a development program aimed at introducing both athletes and coaches to a high-performance environment and giving them the tools to be successful at a state and national level.

SCC PATHWAY

Athletes that are selected into the SCC pathway will train and prepare to participate in the Southern Cross Challenge Carnival that will be held in Melbourne, Victoria in January 2026. The team made up of both regional and metro athletes and is an opportunity to travel and compete against competition.

SOUTHERN CROSS PROGRAM ATHLETE SELECTION PROCESS

The selections for the SCP will be broken into two parts:

1. Athlete identification
2. Athlete pathway placement

ATHLETE IDENTIFICATION

The initial athlete identification phase of the program will begin with METRO and COUNTRY trials. Metro athletes will have 3 sessions while Country athletes will have 1 weekend camp which at the conclusion of, approximately 50 athletes (5 Teams) will be selected per program and age group to be invited to the second art of selections..

ATHLETE PATHWAY PLACEMENT

Athletes that have been identified at the initial trials, will be invited to attend the Southern Cross Selection camp. Approximately 50 athletes per age group (made up of metro and country athletes) will attend the camp and participate in drills and games.

*Athletes will be placed in teams with a mix of METRO and COUNTRY athletes

ATHLETE SELECTION CRITERIA

As the Southern Cross Program is a DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM first foremost and not a state team, selections will reflect that and may not necessarily be the top WABL athletes or athletes that have previously been identified.

Athletes will be assessed on a range of factors including:

• Current skill and ability
• Future potential
• Size and athleticism relative to future basketball position
• Athlete development over the trial period
• Attitude
• Ability to implement teaching points from the trials

*Please note that the performance pathway is not linear. An athlete’s selection into the SCC does not guarantee future sections into high-performance programs and likewise, just because an athlete in not selected does not mean they will not be selected in future programs.

2026 ATHLETE ELIGIBILITY

The Southern Cross Program includes both under 14 and under 15 programs and eligibility will be based on an athletes age’s as at December 31^st of the year the competition is being held and not the year that the program trials are held.

Athletes wishing to trial for the 2026 Southern Cross Program must be born in:

Athletes that fall outside of those years will unfortunately be ineligible for this years program but will be able to trial or participate in one of our other performance programs in 2025/2026.

PROGRAM DATES

Trials for each program can be found here

ATHLETE REGISTRATIONS
Registration for the 2026 Southern Cross Challenge for the below age groups will be opened on August 11

ATHLETES BORN 2013
UNDER 14 COUNTRY BOYS
UNDER 14 METRO BOYS
UNDER 14 COUNTRY GIRLS
UNDER 14 METRO GIRLS

ATHLETES BORN 2012
UNDER 15 COUNTRY BOYS
UNDER 15 METRO BOYS
UNDER 15 COUNTRY GIRLS
UNDER 15 METRO GIRLS