Albury-Wodonga Bandits Youth league have welcomed the announcement they will compete in the Big V competition next season.
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It comes after the Border sides played out their first season as established teams in the NSW Waratah Basketball league this year.
The change will see the youth sides take on Victorian based teams, meaning less time spent travelling for players.
Albury-Wodonga Bandits president Steve Wright said this was one attractive element of the move, as well as having more alignment with the Bandits senior program, which plays in the NBL1 competition.
"It's something we've been keen to do since we started the youth league program," Wright said.
"The NSW Waratah league was really good for us last year, but it's just a long way to travel for away games.
"We had kids sitting on buses for five to six hours to go and play basketball for a weekend.
"It also just aligns a bit more with our senior program being in Victoria.
"It just makes sense for our youth league to go the same way."
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Alongside the shift in leagues, Border basketball has also taken a step forward with both Albury and Wodonga basketball associations signing a memorandum of understanding alongside the Bandits- marking the first time all three parties have agreed to work collaboratively.
The alignment is set to be in the hopes of achieving the best outcome for local basketball programs, such as the youth league initiative.
Bandits Youth league president Luke Smith said the partnership between the three parties was well overdue.
"This will really help with the alignment of pathways across the Border," Smith said.
"It should help strengthen the relationships between the key stakeholders in local basketball.
"The Bandits truly are an Albury-Wodonga club with great history across both Albury and Wodonga associations.
"This is a step in the right direction for local athletes wanting to play at the highest level of sport our region offers."
Both the youth league men's and women's sides made finals in their first year and Wright admits it proves the high standard of aspiring basketball players in the region, who could one day join the Bandits' senior ranks.
"It shows that there's a massive amount of talent in our area," Wright said.
"To expose kids to a higher level of basketball to what they're probably used to, I think was a real benefit for them.
"The success that we've had has created more interest for local players as well.
"We can only see it getting better and better as we go along."