Tennis star earns State basketball call-up

Talented teenager Abbi Gibson is well known for her tennis ability but has now earned selection in a State team from a different sporting code. Gibson dominated the Albany Basketball Association women’s A-grade competition this season and has now been selected in the WA under-16 Country Women’s team. A 13-person squad for the WA under-16 country women’s side was announced recently along with four reserves to compete in the 2020 Australian Junior Championships in Perth in early July. However, the championships are in limbo due to COVID-19, although this eager teenager will keep training in the hope that she may get to pull on WA colours. “It’s awesome to be selected, I put in a lot of hard work so it’s great to see the results,” Gibson said. “I started fully training for basketball about a year ago. “Luke McGuire really helped me with me with my training and has fast tracked my learning. “I really enjoy playing basketball, I just wanted to do something different from tennis. “I’m going to keep training as if its still on.” The 15-year-old played A-grade for Kinjarling Storm who won the premiership in their inaugural season. Gibson scored 117 points in 11 games to be the competition’s fifth highest points scorer and she was also named in the Albany Advertiser All-Star five. She took part in a try-out to get into the initial squad and then attend two training camps before the final team was selected. The tennis star played in the year 9-10 girls and 11-12 girls basketball competitions also this season. “I'm going to keep up my fitness and shooting practice which I am doing for about 12 hours per week and try to do that as much as possible,” she said. “I think I put my improvement solely down to all the extra training I do each day.” “It was great playing in A-grade as it was more physical and competitive matches.”

Tennis star earns State basketball call-up

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