Basketballers selected for Vic Country squad

KORUMBURRA Basketball Association’s Krystal Arnason and Meg Cooper were recently selected for Victoria’s U18 Country Women team.

The team will compete at the National Championships, set to be held in Brisbane from April 7 to 14.

Training began for the squad last Sunday in Diamond Valley.

The squad will continue to train every Sunday at venues around Victoria until the championships.

Krystal said she was excited to be named in the squad.

The 16-year-old from Leongatha has loved the sport for as long as she can remember, and thanked her coaches Bill Jeffs, Chloe Hogg and Matt Holm for helping her to reach this level.

Krystal was selected after an impressive performance at the Australian Country Junior Basketball Cup, where she represented Victoria Country U18s in Albury in mid-January.

Her team won the gold medal against a competitive New South Wales country side, winning seven of the eight games played.

A practice match will be played against Victoria Metro on March 10, and the jersey presentation will be held in Melbourne. 

In 2023, the U18 Metro and Country Women put up a great performance through the tournament, proving great determination on the national stage. 

The National Championships are the pinnacle event for emerging athletes on a national stage, as the teams compete to be crowned National Champion at the end of the tournament. 

Basketball Victoria’s general manager performance and pathways Grant Wallace said the regular calendar of play and preparation, plus recent stellar performances at the East Coast Challenge and Country Cup, has determined a high calibre group of athletes to be selected from.

“Our biggest strength is our culture, and we have seen the success of our High-Performance Hubs as part of our State Development Program that has helped drive the standards and competitiveness to a new level. Our whole group is looking forward to the trip to Queensland in April,” he said.