THE future of Bathurst basketball appears to be in good hands, if the number of local players attending this years national titles are anything to go by.
With four players being selected across three teams, Bathurst can boast its highest ever number of players representing NSW in the one year.
Rachel Murray and Haylee Lepaio (girls under 18s), and Will Aisake (boys under 18s) will head to Ballarat this weekend to represent NSW Country in the under 18s national titles, while Olivia Patterson will leave the week after for Perth to play for NSW Country in the girls under 16s competition.
Along with her will be coach of the girls under 16s Paul Masters, and team manager Susan Purvis.
Masters believes that the number of players selected is an encouraging sign for Bathurst, who up until 15 years ago struggled to have players achieve State honours.
“It was probably only 15 years ago that we got our first state player.”
“Its a big honour for somone from over the Blue Mountains to make a state team because most of the teams are made up of Necastle, Woollongong and Central Coast players.”
“So for us to have three in the under 18s and one in the under 16s, it is a pretty good achievement.”
In her second appearance in state colours Murray will be looking to improve on her bronze medal, while Lepaio will be out to complete her set after finishing with a bronze and a silver so far in her two appearances.
While Murray and Lepaio have tasted State honours before, it willl be a knew experience for both Aisake and Patterson, who are representing their State for the first time.
For Murray, the titles will be of extra importance, after she was named captain of the side, much to her surprise,
“It was a little bit of a shock to be honest, but it is exciting being captain as well,” she said.
“Our team’s pretty good, we should go all right.”
“It would be nice if we had a few more taller players but the team we’ve got is pretty good.”
“We won the bronze medal in 16s which was exciting so hopefully we can back that up.”
With the NSW country girls under 18s finishing just outside the medals in 4th last year, and the boys finishing 8th, Lepaio, Murray and Aisake are keen to help their sides improve this year.
Master’s and Patterson will also be keen to maintian the form of the NSW Country under 16s after the team finished 2nd in last years competition
However with a new look team this may be difficult.
“We only have one player from last year, but all of them are top age which means it should be a lot stronger, because we’re not relying on kids who have come up from under 14s which is a big jump” Masters said.
Each division will be divided into two pools, with those who finish on top of their pool progressing to the semi-finals.
Most states will have two teams participating in the event.
The Australian Under 18s Championships will be held from the 5th-12th of July, while the Australian Under 16s Championships will run from the 12th-19th of July.
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