Seven talented athletes, two coaches and one manager from Merimbula Basketball Association joined some of the state's finest young athletes recently for the 2023 Your Local Club Academy Games.
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Hosted by the Southern Sports Academy (SSA), the event was held across various venues throughout Wagga Wagga in late April and bought together 1300 athletes from 11 regional academies throughout NSW, with basketball being one of the seven sports played.
Merimbula Basketball Association supported its talented athletes and coaches through the South East Sports Association (SESA) basketball program, part of the Basketball NSW developing athlete program.
The developing athlete program is the second tier of the Basketball NSW high performance program.
The program has a strong focus on the identification, development and support of athletes turning 12 to 15.
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Xavier Maze, Ben Holman, James Carter, Chandler Sharman and Kobi Woods represented Merimbula's under 16 boys.
Coaches from MBA were Ken Simpson and Grant Maze, with team manager Mia Maze assisted by Luke Lewis.
Penny O'Keefe represented the under 16 girls and Sally Carter was assistant coach.
"SESA was very impressed with the way basketball athletes from the Queanbeyan, Goulburn and satellite squads came together as a team to play competitively at the Your Local Club Academy Games," said Celia Murphy, executive director of policy and planning, Office of Sport.
"It has been fantastic working with the basketball squad in Merimbula in 2023 and SESA is looking forward to offering more opportunities to talented athletes and coaches in 2023/24."
The first SESA basketball program in Merimbula had 22 athletes attend weekly skills training and development camps with participants from Goulburn, Queanbeyan and Merimbula. It supported local businesses and cafes through hosting a camp in March this year.
These programs have not been offered in the Far South Coast region for basketball before.
If local athletes want to progress along the Basketball NSW pathway they have to travel as far as Sydney and Canberra.
These opportunities put young regional athletes in front of Basketball NSW coaches, which has resulted in several from Merimbula being encouraged to try out for state and high performance trials later in the year, under 16 boys team manager Mia Maze said.
Registrations for the next program are planned for August and MBA expected a big turnout for the trials.
For more information on SESA Basketball Merimbula, visit www.sesa.net.au/basketball-eurobodalla.
