There’s no shortage of talent in the Macedon Ranges Basketball Association.
The association has 10 players in Basketball Victoria country age group representative squads to compete at separate championships early next year.
Boys and girls squads of under-14s, 16s and 18s will represent BV Country at the Australian Country Junior Basketball Cup (ACJBC) in Albury-Wodonga.
Separate under-14 boys and girls teams, and two under-15 teams, will compete at a Southern Cross Challenge in Melbourne.
Basketballers selected in under-15s, under-16s and under-18s will also be part of a national intensive training program (NITP).
Macedon Ranges association head coach Bart Barnes said this was by far the biggest number of players selected for representative teams.
He said several players had been selected previously, but to have 10 players chosen from a small association like MRBA was unusual.
The players are Tate Barnes (under-14s), Lauren Trakosas (ACJBC under-14s, emergency), Erin Condron (Southern Cross under-14s), Maddison Nash (under-15s), Jordan Phillips (under-16s, emergency) and Tess Barnes, Annabel Strahan and Madeline Condron (under-16s). Also selected were Nick Grantham and Sebastian McArdle, who were in the under-18 team early this year. Their performances at the ACJBC earned their selection for the Vic Country team in the national titles.
“We’re pretty happy with the kids’ progress; it has been coming,” Barnes said.
“We’re not completely surprised to see so many selected with the talent coming through. We’re very excited.”
Barnes said being selected in these teams was a sign that the Macedon Ranges could match it with the best of the state.
Basketballers who are part of the NITP will train weekly in Bendigo under the eye of Women’s National Basketball League coach Simon Pritchard.
“The NITP means they’ve already been identified and will train in a more intensive program that will help push them, hopefully into state and Australian teams,” Barnes said.
“Bendigo wasn’t initially selected as a location and we were looking at having to travel to Ballarat or Geelong, but with so many local athletes selected and Simon wanting to get on board, [Basketball Victoria] couldn’t say no.”
The record number of players selected caps off two big years for Macedon Ranges, which hosted the BVC Regional Academy program in that time.
