All Stars ready to fly

All Stars ready to fly

 

The All Stars Oceania basketball team has rounded up their preparations for the Australian Country Cup tournament yesterday. 

Speaking to SUNsports, All Stars Oceania team coach Seini Dobui said the players are excited to go offshore. 

“We had our weights and track sessions on Wednesday. We were working on our court work, where we practised our shoots, ball handling and the dribbles,” she said. 

Dobui said the team did well in their training for the past two days. 

“I have seen progress in their preparation which is a good indication of each player’s participation next week. We have followed a training programme that was given to us by the Australian Basketball Association and I’m satisfied that my All Star team is ready for the battle.” 

Best players will also be identified in this tournament who will be given scholarships to study in overseas. 

“For this tournament we would like to video all the players to see their performances so that we can identify the best ones that we could send to a University in America to study and play basketball at the same time. 

“We are doing this for the benefit of the players so that they can perform really well and lift their performance to another level which will prepare them for international level,”

Fiji’s Valerie Nainima and Mikaela Whippy are currently on scholarship and are also playing in America. 

The women’s team is made up of 10 players; two from New Caledonia, three from Tahiti, three from Fiji, one from Guam, 1 from Vanuatu.  

The players from the other Pacific countries are training on their own but the team will meet in Australia on Saturday. 

“The overseas players have been following the same training programme and they submit their assessment every week where I assess and tell them areas that they need to improve on and they build up from there,” 

The team will play their first match against New Zealand Kea on Monday, Zic Goldmine and FA Sharks South Australia on Tuesday, Tasmanian Devils on Wednesday and NSW Waratahs on Thursday.

 

Dobui acknowledges Fiji supporters for their support and especially her employers Fiji National Provident Fund for their backing.

 

The team departs for Australia tomorrow morning.

Source: The Fiji Sun Online

06th January 2011




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