HAMILTON basketballers, Taima Thomas and Emily Iredell were recently announced in the Under-14 Vic Country squads to compete at the Country Metro Challenge (CMC) in Bendigo this coming weekend.

The pair were selected by Basketball Victoria’s high-performance staff to be part of the squad and were excited about the opportunity with the camp to be held over two days, Sunday June 30 and Monday July 1.

The selection provides some of Victoria’s young stars an opportunity to showcase their talent and continue putting forward their name for future high-performance camps like Golden Nuggets and the Southern Cross Challenge (SCC).

The pair is part of the Future Development Program (FDP) essentially providing them a pathway to advance through the age levels for their state.

They are part of 40 country kids selected for the challenge which will involve matches, training sessions and access to elite coaches.

Hamilton Basketball Association (HBA) acting president, Dean Le Roy said the selections for the CMC Challenge were great for the association.

“It’s great to see them selected, we are a big basketball community in Hamilton and there is a lot of children and teenagers that play,” he said.

“To see that development and growth is great, whether its playing squad or junior champs, it’s all great for the association and for their experience.”

Le Roy said the CMC Challenge in Bendigo would give the young stars more than just skill development, it would prepare them for future elite level pathways.

“The experience from it will be massive for them, not necessarily just the skills but also learning what it’s like to travel to play, learning from other coaches and playing with new players in front of crowds,” he said.

“We’ve had some players from the HBA move away from Hamilton in the past to further their basketball and experiences like this will prepare them (Thomas and Iredell) to go away and play at higher levels.”

Thomas has been dominating the HBA in both the junior and senior competitions and there is absolutely no surprise that the Basketball Victoria coaches liked what they saw at the tryouts.

Thomas plays for St Mary’s Black and leads the league scoring in the Under-14A boys’ competition with 123 points across four games.

Yes, you read that correctly, he has been putting up almost 31 points per game with his best game in round four as he dropped 39 points in his team’s comfortable victory over Minders Nets.

Thomas said he was excited to be selected for the challenge and couldn’t wait to get stuck into it later this month.

“It was pretty good (to hear the news), I felt like the trials went alright, there were some really good basketballers there,” he said.

“We did a few drills, a bit of match sim and practicing setting up plays.”

The 13-year-old has also made the step up to the senior men’s competition playing seven games with Barber Boys in division 2B.

He hasn’t looked out of place and has brought the same scoring intensity to score double figures in three games with a season-high of 12 against Monivae Maroons.

Thomas said he felt like the step up to the senior level had helped his development and brought out his “competitive” nature.

“I hadn’t played seniors before this year, but it has been good, there’s a few big bodies,” he said.

“I’m very competitive and don’t like losing … I’ve also learnt a few different moves to use in games which has been pretty fun.”

Iredell has also been making light work out of the HBA junior ranks this season and despite being just 12 years old, she has been carrying her Minders Blue team in the Under-14A girls’ division.

While she prides herself on her defensive efforts, she has been scoring at will with 89 points across her five games – second most in the league.

Her most impressive game in round five when she single-handedly won the game and defeated St Mary’s in one-point thriller, 23-22 with Iredell scoring all 23 of her team’s points.

The young talent was unfortunately struck down with a wrist injury on the trial day, unable to compete or show off her talent.

However, the selectors were convinced that they had already seen her talent shine through having been involved in squad basketball and playing at a state level in the past.

“I was pretty excited to make it, unfortunately I wasn’t able to try out because I had a wrist injury, so I sat out and took notes,” she said.

“It was really good seeing all of the players and taking notes on them … as well as talking to coaches.”

Iredell said she hoped to put her skills on display and play to her strengths at the CMC Challenge.

“I will focus on trying my hardest and bonding with the rest of the team, I will hopefully have a strong role in the team,” she said.

“I like defence, that’s my main role and I also enjoy attacking and getting two feet in the key.”

The experience won’t be too daunting for the youngsters as both of them have represented Victoria in the past, Thomas in athletics and football, and Iredell in athletics and basketball.

The Golden Nuggets camp is the next selection that the local pair will be chasing after with tryouts and a camp for the FDP in the near future.