Great Southern junior basketball talent strongly represented at BWA High Performance Development Carnival

A host of Great Southern basketball talent took centrestage at the Basketball WA State High-Performance Development Carnival on January 14 and 15. Nate Moss, Lachlan Rogers, Xavier Donald, Andre De Giambattista and Nate Colbung played as part of the under-14 Basketball WA country boys’ squad, while Torie Lethbridge pulled on State colours for the under-14 country girls’ squad. Teams played five games over the weekend against a combination of HPDC and invitational teams from around WA. The HPDC offers junior basketball players a potential pathway into junior national team representation. Scores were not recorded at the tournament, with an emphasis being placed on team and personal development. Team manager Tracey Moss said the carnival provided a great opportunity for Great Southern-based players to enjoy a taste of high-level basketball. “The highlights were the in-game plays the coaching staff wanted them to meet; whether it was stoppages or steals, they all did great,” she said. “A lot of the players came from all over the place but they were a great bunch of boys; they did so well in supporting each other. “There was a lot of commitment for the boys. We went to Perth every month for four months. “They trained on a Thursday and Friday night, so it was a massive commitment for these kids to travel these distances and put in the effort; they trained for five hours at a time in hot weather. “For so many to come from the Great Southern, that’s a credit to basketball here in Albany for sure. Another highlight was their growth, emotionally. They really stuck to their in-game goals and what they wanted to achieve and not being overwhelmed by the fact that a lot of the guys they played were so much bigger.”