After being sidelined by Covid in 2020, basketball is back with a bang at South West Sydney Academy of Sport.
The reinvigorated 2021 basketball program has started with the selection of 28 male and female athletes.
In the coaching ranks will be former SWSAS basketball athlete and current Illawarra Hawks junior coach Mekdes Geist leading the way, along with Grant Smith, the former Macarthur Heat player who is now coaching at Wollondilly.
The academy has moved to a longer time-frame basketball program in 2021, with a focus on teaching individual and team skills, along with strength and conditioning, recovery techniques and sports education.
This has been developed to continue to upskill and develop holistic athletes, rather than just a weekly on-court training regime.
The response so far has been positive, as it allows athletes to focus on their weekly representative commitments, as well as additional opportunities the academy provides.
Of the 28 athletes who successfully gained a position within the academy, a record 11 are from the emerging Wollondilly Razorbacks Basketball Association, which presently competes in the Barrengarry Development Conference.
“It is our goal to build towards competing in the Southern Junior League alongside the larger NSW Country clubs like Goulburn and Illawarra,’’ says Wollondilly Razorbacks chairperson Mick Hendricks.
“And the support of having our athletes exposed to a quality program such as the South West Sydney Academy of Sport basketball program will definitely assist in their ongoing development.”
The squad will compete at Your Local Club Academy Games competition in April, with the program then continuing its development sessions on basketball fundamentals and the increasingly popular 3×3 style of the game.
The 2021 program will conclude with the academy hosting an Invitational 3×3 tournament in July.
The athletes selected into the 2021 academy basketball program are: Adam Prasad (Campbelltown), Aiden Nguyen (Liverpool), Antonio Zammit (Liverpool), Azor Ruiz (Campbelltown), Benji Vitangcol (Liverpool), Cooper Hardman (Wollondilly), Cory White (Liverpool), Dylan Sharp (Camden), Jimmy Tzortzis (Wollondilly), Kaiser Tat (Liverpool), Keenan Font (Camden), Kingston Tutani (Camden), Kyan Wilton (Camden), Levi Edwards (Wollondilly), Liam Gechevski (Wollondilly), Nathan Strode (Wollondilly), Alyssa Nguyen (Liverpool), Brooke Lawrence (Wollondilly), Danielle Campos (Camden), Elise Smith (Wollondilly), Isabella-Grace Marshall (Wollondilly), Isabelle Stevens (Campbelltown), Jade Debrowski (Wollondilly), Jessica Austin (Wollondilly), Jessica Fuimara (Wollondilly), Kira-May Filemu (Liverpool), Lelani Filemu (Liverpool) and Monique Campos (Camden).
For more information on how to join, or sponsor an academy sports program, go to www.swsas.org.au email admin@swsas.org.au or call 02 4627 7622.
