Inner Game Thunder · U9 · Season 4, 2026
A Real Team. A Real Coach. Everyone Plays.
Ages 7–9 (born 2017 or later). Train Wednesdays 4:00–5:00pm, play Sunday games in the EBL. $65 a week, everything in.
$650 season · $225 deposit
Inner Game Thunder · squad of 8
You train with your team. You play with your team.
Most kids teams are run for the team, not the kid
Ask around and every basketball parent has a version of the same story. The kid who trains all week and plays four minutes on Saturday. The coach who is a different parent volunteer every season. The club where the squad was picked before tryouts even started.
Kids do not quit basketball because they stop loving it. They quit because they sit on a bench, or because nobody ever actually taught them anything, and slowly the game tells them it is not for them.
We built the U9 squad the other way around. 8 players picked from our own Wednesday training class, a real coach who knows every kid by name, and one rule that does not bend: everyone trains, everyone plays.
What makes an Inner Game squad different
The same coach at training and on game day.
The coach on the bench Sunday is the coach from Wednesday training. They know what your kid has been working on and they coach it in the game. No rotating strangers, no clipboard babysitters.
A squad of 8. Everyone plays.
Eight players, five on the court. Real minutes for every kid, every game. We are developing players, not chasing a division title.
Skills training is built in, not bolted on.
The Wednesday class is the squad's training session: skill work, half-court game play and a full-court game to finish, every week. Most club teams get one team run-through. This squad gets a real development session.
Your kid already knows the team.
The squad is drawn from the kids training together on Wednesdays, so round 1 is not a room full of strangers. They walk on court with their people.
The U9 week
Wednesday
Squad training · 4:00–5:00pm
NCIE Redfern, indoors. Skill work, half-court game play and a full-court game to finish. This is the Foundations class. Squad kids and class kids train together.
First session Wednesday 21 October. Last session Wednesday 16 December. 9 sessions.
Sunday
Game day · EBL junior comp
Games run out of the Easts Basketball League, Sydney's biggest independent junior comp. Sunday mornings between 9:15am and 12pm at Sydney Uni Sport in Darlington, ten minutes from Redfern, on age-appropriate lowered rings. Exact times land about a week before round 1.
Round 1 Sunday 18 October. Final regular round Sunday 13 December. A finals game on top if the squad makes it.
Train Wednesdays. The Term 4 class is where the squad forms. Secure a spot here, or book a free trial first.
Secure a spot. Pay the $225 deposit online and your kid is locked in, jersey number and all. It is the term's Wednesday class fee, so it is never wasted: squad or no squad, they play.
Squad finalised. Once 8 deposits are in, the squad is entered in the EBL, the kit order goes in and we announce it.
Round 1. Train Wednesday, play Sunday, every week of the season.
One price. Everything in.
$650
per player for the season: $65 a week
New players add a one-off $70 kit: their name, their number, at cost, theirs to keep. That is the lot.
- 9 Wednesday squad training sessions, 21 October to 16 December, at NCIE, Redfern.
- Sunday games from 18 October to 13 December in the Easts Basketball League competition. If the squad makes finals, an additional game will be played.
- An Inner Game coach on the bench at every game.
- A personalised Inner Game reversible jersey: their name and their chosen number. (one-off $70 fee)
- Team entry, fixtures, admin and parent comms all handled.
- League fees for the court, refs and season entry taken care of.
Deposit
$225 holds a spot and counts toward the $650; balance as soon as the league confirms the squad
Kit
Reversible kit, about $70 once at cost: their name, their number, theirs to keep
If it doesn't fill
The deposit is the term's Wednesday class fee, so your kid trains either way
Active Kids vouchers accepted.
A real comp, a coach you know
Our squads play in the Easts Basketball League, the biggest independent junior comp in Sydney's east: 2,100 plus players, running since 2011, with games ten minutes from Redfern. The league brings the stage. We bring the squad, the coaching and the standards.
James leads the program end to end: he plans every Wednesday session, picks the squads and coaches game days himself where the draw allows, with a dedicated Inner Game coach on every bench. WWCC cleared, first aid certified, Basketball NSW accredited, six years coaching kids this age.
Common questions
The things every parent asks before their kid's first real team.
There is no tryout to survive. This is a development squad picked from our Wednesday training class, so every kid lands at the right level and gets coached up from there. If they love basketball and want to play real games, they belong here.
Tell us on the form. The squad is 8 players and we do our best to keep mates together. Kids play better next to their friends anyway.
James leads the whole program and coaches game days himself where the draw allows. The squad has a dedicated Inner Game coach on the bench at every single game: the same faces from Wednesday training, never a rotating stranger with a clipboard.
The squad is capped at 8 on purpose. Everyone plays real minutes every game. The exact minutes each kid plays will vary from game to game, but not by a lot. We are building players, not protecting a scoreboard.
Sunday mornings at Sydney Uni in Darlington, about ten minutes from Redfern. Games fall between 9:15am and 12pm, played on age-appropriate lowered rings, and exact times land about a week before round 1.
The league goes by the calendar year: whatever age your kid turns this year is their division, even if the birthday is 31 December. The U9 squad is for kids born 2017 or later. A kid who turns 10 this year slots into the next squad up instead. You enter the date of birth at checkout and it is checked there.
Season 4, 2026: round 1 is Sunday 18 October and the final regular round is Sunday 13 December, with a finals game on top if the squad makes it. Wednesday training runs from Wednesday 21 October to Wednesday 16 December, 9 sessions. Round 1 lands the Sunday before the first Wednesday session, so the squad opens the season off its current training.
New players add a reversible Inner Game kit at cost: about $70, once, and it is theirs to keep. No markup, and it is personalised with your kid's name and their chosen number. Returning players already have theirs.
You pick it at checkout from the numbers still free. First deposit in locks the number, and taken numbers are greyed out so there are no clashes.
The squad only gets entered once 8 deposits are in. Your deposit is the term's Wednesday class fee, so nothing is wasted either way: if the squad waits a season, your kid keeps training every Wednesday and we build toward the next one.
Yes. Active Kids vouchers are accepted toward the season fee.
You get a confirmation straight away with your kid's spot number and jersey number. The $225 is also your kid's Wednesday class enrolment for the term, and it counts toward the season fee. Once 8 deposits are in we nominate the squad to the EBL, and the moment the league confirms it we announce the team and send the final payment link.
Secure your kid's spot in Inner Game Thunder
8 of 8 spots open
Spots fill in order of deposit. Pay the $225 deposit now and your kid is locked in. It is the Term 4 Wednesday class fee, so it counts toward the season and is never wasted.
Card or Link at Stripe's secure checkout. You pick the jersey number on the next page. Active Kids vouchers accepted.
All 8 spots are filled
Inner Game Thunder is full. Leave your details and you are first in line if a spot opens, and first to hear when the next squad forms.
Got it 🙂 You're on the list. James will text you as soon as there is a spot.
Not sure a team is right yet? Book a free Wednesday session and let your kid feel it first.