Pt Augusta Pre Carnival Ramble!!

With Broken Hill now behind us, the Whyalla Stealers turn their focus on the Pt Augusta carnival this weekend. Some changes to the teams have been made, with some children being not available for the Broken Hill carnival and others making way for someone else to have a go and show what they have to offer.
In the lead up to the Broken Hill carnival all the teams had been putting in good efforts on the training track, most teams getting good numbers to training, with only the 12’s perhaps needing more players, but with the return of the Morgan girls from their European holiday and Aaron Rogers and Tom Fischer from their QLD expedition those numbers will quickly be bolstered. Ebony Curwood and Pat Kemp have been working overtime to get the squad ready for what could prove a long season. The young charges have taken to the gruelling training sessions well and should begin to show some reward in the near future.
The 14 girls will again be looking to be competitive as will be the 14 boys, who will be coached by Sean Sheedy this carnival due to Peter Steel being unavailable. Both teams have a lot of bottom age players, which can provide at times frustration but also a lot of reward when the penny drops and it all falls into place.
The 16 boys have been able to maintain a string core of players, gaining experience from Jack Vigar and Michael Baker who have played State basketball for the past 2 years. Ben Mortimer, Jacob Smith and Dale Dunn will provide some great support; this team will pose some problems to the other regions.
The 16 girls will look to Rhianna Stringer (Who may not be playing due to a knee injury) and Mackenzie Burns for their guidance, they will be backed by Zoe Crocker, who last season made the SA Country U14 team for the first time and will be again trying out this year. With abundance to the U14 girls Jasmin Bridgman, Nikeisha McNamara and Bianca Clements have been filling in and will only gain valuable experience playing against the older girls as well as alongside the above mentioned experienced players.

The 18 boys and girls have had good numbers to trainings in the pre season, so good things will be expected from the teams. The girl’s side has been training 2 times a week and have the likes of Hayley Stone, Tegan Crocker, Shannon Tarran, Alicia Sawford and Sam Vigar who have all played at State level and should push every team they come across.
The boys have players such as Chad McLean and Michael Wallace to lead the side, with Adam Nicol and Ben Sawford to bolster the scoring options this side will also be around the mark come the right time of the carnival. This carnival looks to be one of the hottest contested on the calendar not only in action but also the weather.
With it being only 70kms down the track if you have nothing to do on the weekend head down to Pt Augusta for a look at some great basketball talent....