HAMILTON has a new national champion in its midst, with Emily Iredell grabbing a gold medal as part of the School Sports Victoria Under-12 basketball team at the national championships in Perth last week.

Such was the dominance of the team during the carnival, they didn’t lose a game on the way to a grand final victory.

After being nominated to trial for the squad by Gray St Primary School Principal, Ben Kelson, Iredell had to work her way through the various stages of selection to reach the final squad of 13 players to participate in the championships.

That first selection stage was held in Ballarat where approximately 100 girls trialled for the next stage, where the players were culled to only 12 for the opportunity to be part of the final selection trial at Waverley Stadium in Melbourne.

Iredell was one of only three country-based players selected for the final squad, which involved a six-week commitment to travel to Melbourne each Sunday for a three-hour training session in the lead up to the carnival.

Having played basketball since she started in the Under-8s, Iredell has gone from strength to strength as her skills developed.

Selected to play as a point guard in the team, Iredell’s role was to dominate the boards at each end of the court which she accomplished very successfully.

As with most youngsters, she has plenty of other interests outside of the sport, but it is basketball that holds a special place in her heart.

“I had to make a choice between basketball and ballet a couple of weeks ago and I chose basketball,” Iredell noted with a smile.

Like all talented athletes she has hopes and dreams within the sport and the future holds no bounds for her as she dreams of bigger and better things.

“Future wise, I’d love to play in the WNBA (Women’s National basketball Association in the USA),” she said.

“My idol is Jade Melbourne.”

With her idol being the youngest player for 2023 in the WNBA with the Seattle Storm after plying her skills with the Canberra Capitals in the WNBL here in Australia, Iredell has a pathway here in Australia to achieve her goal.

The team played at least one game every day with two days having to play two games in the day which put extra pressure on the players.

The games were played with eight-minute quarters with a total playing time of 90 minutes, as the clock stopped at every stoppage.

“It was a high intensity style of game which we don’t play here, but I really enjoyed it,” Iredell said.

“My coach wanted me to play a defensive role throughout the games and I was told to ‘go out and get me those boards’ by our coach.”

While Emily is tall for her age, she was had three or four team mates who towered over her.

“They were a head taller than I am, so I wasn’t one of the tallest in the team,”she said.

Currently she has other sports ahead of her with the athletics season about to begin and regional titles are on the horizon in September.

“I am training for the high jump, triple jump and the 100m sprint, with the high jump my favourite event, but basketball is my favourite sport” she said.

With a full sporting commitment in place for the foreseeable future, Iredell will only get better at her chosen activity and is a youngster to watch as she gets older.

“I couldn’t have achieved what I have without the support of Mr Kelson, Adam Jennings who worked individually with me in Hamilton leading up to the trials and of course my Mum and Dad,” Emily said.

On Friday the Gray Street school was able to watch and support its basketball representative as the grand final was streamed live and the school took the time to watch the game.