To begin the new Representative Season, a meeting will be held with each individual team, players and parents.

A Coaching Advisor or Director of Basketball will be in attendance at each meeting to discuss conduct issues.

The following is the basis of the meetings:

Basketball Australia, Basketball Victoria, and Bulleen Temeplestowe Basketball Club all have codes of conduct for players, coaches and spectators.  At Bulleen we endorse these codes and diligently monitor adherence to ensure that our club is the type of classy organization our members want us to be.

Nevertheless we know mistakes are made, so to minimize the occurrence of anything inappropriate we are meeting with every Rep team to discuss these issues.

The following examples are real life examples that we experienced during the last 12 months.  Such a discussion is absolutely not a witch hunt and furthermore we do not wish to be viewed as moralizing but the Club must show leadership in this area and we hope that consideration of these examples will prove enlightening.

EXAMPLE 1:  Parents overhead talking negatively about a child’s teammate during a game.  This is totally inappropriate.

EXAMPLE 2 – Parents talking negatively about other parent’s children’s at a team function.  This is totally inappropriate.

EXAMPLE 3 – Parents undermining a coach to another coach.  Granted many parents have some basketball knowledge but there is a difference between discussing Basketball methods and using some knowledge to attack a volunteer coach.

EXAMPLE 4 – A coach allowing parents to attack another coach instead of finding a solution or explaining the correct procedure to lodge a complaint.

EXAMPLE 5 – Parents criticizing a club coach in front of their child whilst driving to practice.  On arrival, the child repeated the criticism to others.  Sport is a passionate activity and can generate frustration or anger; nevertheless, words spoken at home or in the car can be repeated in another inappropriate environment.

EXAMPLE 6 – A parent continually telephoning a coach after every game to question and complain.  This is not reasonable enquiring, it is badgering.  If a parent has continuing  concerns, there is a procedure to seek resolution.

EXAMPLE 7 – An angry or frustrated parent seeking to discuss issues immediately after a game.  Any such approach to a coach should never be made immediately after a game, rather the discussion should take place when any immediate emotion has dissipated.

EXAMPLE 8 – A parent buying into another parent’s issue.  This is ‘feeding the flames’ and is not supportive.  Any conflict needs to be resolved via the appropriate procedure.

EXAMPLE 9 – A player making disparaging remarks about another person on MSN.  Such comments made on MSN, Face book or My Space etc is bullying and cannot be accepted.

ISSUE RESOLUTION PROCEDURE

If a parent has an issue, they should talk to the team manager to liaise with the coach regarding a meeting either before or after the next practice (or at another acceptable time).  This meeting may or may not involve a director of Coaching or a Convenor.  If a resolution is not reached, a Convenor will attempt to solve the problem.  If resolution is still not reached, the issue will go to the Director of Basketball.