The NSW AAGPS (Athletic Association of the Great Public Schools of New South Wales) is a school basketball competition played in Australia. It is an annual, 14 round competition played between 8 Sydney member teams that include Saint Ignatius Riverview, St Joseph's Hunters Hill, Sydney Grammar, Sydney Boys High, Newington College, Scots College, The Kings school and Sydney Church Of England Grammar School (Shore). Preseason games are played in Term 3-4 school holidays in the Knox Invitational tournament and Raschke Cup as well as the Trinity Challenge in Summer, with the official GPS games played in Term 4 and 1 on Saturday. 1st grade games commence at 11:45 and often attract large crowds, whilst second grade games commence at 10:00. The 1st grade premiership is currently held by Newington College while the Rashcke cup is held by Newington College. In 2nd grade the premiership is held by St Ignatius College, Riverview and The Scots College while the PJ Yeend Trophy is currently held by Saint Ignatius’ College, Riverview.
Every season the AAGPS/RASCHKE Cup (all AAGPS schools compete) is played (formerly in a one-week before Round 1, in a 2-day round robin formatted competition) over the trial rounds, with the schools being separated into two pools, with the winner of each group playing each other in the final. This cup is the 2nd most prestigious accolade from a season. In near consecutive seasons of 2013, 2014, 2015, 2017, 2018 Saint Ignatius College Riverview have made the final, in which they have been victorious 4 times (13, 15, 17, 18).
First Teams compete for the Denys Hake Shield[2] which was first awarded in 1975, and was presented by The King's School Council in honour of the wife of a former Headmaster of King's, Herbert Denys HakeOBE.
Second Teams compete for The TE Bawden Shield[3] which was first awarded in 1975. It was also presented by The King's School and named after the first GPS Convenor of Basketball, and later GPS Treasurer, Tom Bawden.
The AAGPS and CAS First Teams compete annually for the PJ Yeend Cup, presented by Basketball NSW.
The AAGPS and ISA First Teams compete annually for the McKay Cup.
Competition format
Seasons are a 14-round competition where each team plays each other twice, in 2013 the competition games were halved to 7 rounds with each team playing each other once, though the competition has since reverted a 14-round season. The season begins in Term 4, where teams will play trial matches against a mix of AAGPS, ISA, and CAS teams, including 3 rounds of Raschke Cup/Yeend Shield, where a pre-season winner will be crowned.
Term 1 begins the competition games where schools play each other every Saturday, 10am for 2nd V and 11:45am for 1st V. If a team is able to win 7 games they will be crowned Undefeated Champions and earn the outright AAGPS title.[4]
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