The majority of the Taree Tornadoes teams compete in the Molten Waratah Northern Junior Basketball League which takes them away from home to play games all over the top end of the State and one team, the U14 girls participate in the prestigious Country Premier League, which as the name suggests is played all over country NSW.

That team will play the second round of their competition in Coffs Harbour over the weekend where they will be seeking to enter the winners circle for the first time as they take on Coffs Harbour, Maitland and Newcastle.

Looking at the current ladder both Coffs Harbour and Maitland are undefeated, sitting in top spot and although the Taree Tornadoes are capable of upsetting all their opponents on any given day, all the stars would need to align to record wins over these two teams.

On the other hand, Newcastle is just one spot ahead of Taree on the competition ladder and provide the most likely opportunity for a win this weekend.

The Taree team comprising Sophie Clare Croker, Ebony Extrem, Ella Farland, Lucy Green, Olivia Nguyen, Mariah Radburn, Kirra Simon and Kaylah Thompson have been working hard on the training floor and with Annika Scott being drafted into their ranks from the U12 girls for a couple of games this weekend, it will be interesting to gauge their progress from the first round in Wollongong when this Country Premier League thing was a new experience for all of them.

On the domestic scene, Saxby’s Stadium will fire back into life on Tuesday when competitions for juniors and senior women and men resume following the school and ANZAC day holidays.

All teams will no doubt be a little bit rusty after the longer than usual break but will need to be into stride quickly as they jockey for positions for the run to the finals series which will be played late in June.

Weekend school basketball for children from kindergarten to year 10 will also be back through the winter months and will be played on Sundays to avoid clashes with the traditional cold weather sports on Saturdays.

Team and individual nominations close on Thursday 04 May 2017 with games to tip off Sunday, 07 May 2017. The weekly game fee is $5.00 per player and all players are required to hold a current NSW Basketball individual registration card. There is good news however because if the registration fee was paid in term one, it’s all done for the year and only new players and players with registrations expiring during the course of the competitions, needing to complete the payment process.

Saxby’s Stadium is the home of Taree Basketball and details about junior, women’s or men’s basketball may be obtained on the telephone at (02) 6551 7456, by email tareebasketball@hotmail.com, on the net at www.taree.basketball.net.au or track down Taree Basketball on Facebook.