FIVE Horsham junior players will compete at state basketball carnivals across the next two weeks.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Jeremiah and Austin McKenzie, Ben Hobbs and Eloise Wills will all travel to Albury to compete at the Australian Country Junior Basketball Cup from January 16-20.
Brody Pope will compete at the Southern Cross Challenge in Melbourne’s outer east from January 19-22.
Former Horsham junior basketballer Jordie McAuliffe, who is now based in Ballarat, will also be attending the Australian Country Junior Basketball Cup with an under-18s side.
Horsham Amateur Basketball Association’s junior co-ordinator, Tony Sleep, said the young players would develop and benefit from the opportunity to play at a state competition.
“It’s great exposure for them,” he said.
“These tournaments represent pathways to our state teams at under-16 and under-18 level.
“We hope they do really well and that their teams also compete well.”
Hobbs and the McKenzie brothers are no strangers to competing at this level, with the young stars having had state opportunities in the past.
“For Brodie and Eloise this will be their first opportunity at these carnivals,” Mr Sleep said.
“The others have been through this pathway for a couple of years.”
The carnivals provide the juniors with a next step in their junior basketball career.
“For the under-14s, this is just the start of their pathway,” Mr Sleep said.
We are pretty proud of our kids.
- Tony Sleep
“Strong performances both individually and as a team will put them in good stead for the future.”
Ben Hobbs told the Mail-Times in October that he was looking forward to playing some other country teams at the Junior Basketball Cup in Albury.
“It will be good to see how we go against country teams instead of metro teams, because metro teams are a bit stronger,” he said
Mr Sleep will also be attending the Southern Cross Challenge himself, coaching an under-14s boy’s side.
It will be his first time coaching at the carnival after being involved with Basketball Victoria Country programs for the past six years.
The junior athletes and Mr Sleep all attended the Australia Country Junior Basketball Cup and Southern Cross Challenge pre-camps in Shepparton late last year in preparation for the challenging competitions.
Mr Sleep said he was pleased with the state of the junior program in Horsham at the moment.
“We are pretty proud of our kids,” he said.
“It has been a few years now since we haven’t had kids compete at these carnivals. We are pretty happy with the way things are going.”
