VIC COUNTRY COACHES ANNOUNCED FOR 2010 U16 NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS Basketball Victoria Country Council is pleased to announce the appointments of the coaching staff for the Victorian Country Junior Representative Under 16 State Teams for 2010.

The 2010 Australian Under 16 National Championships will be held in Logan, Queensland from the 3 - 10 July. Following a thorough selection process, Manager Country Basketball, David Huxtable is pleased to announce the successful applicants.

Appointed for the second year running is Warrnambool’s Tony Gall who will be the Head Coach of the U16 Vic Country Girls team. Tony has extensive coaching experience, both at a senior and junior level. Tony has been a Head Coach of Warrnambool Teams in the BigV League and has coached the Warrnambool Men and Women’s teams to ABA Conference finals in 2000 and 2001. Tony will be able to utilise his experience at the 2009 National Championships in Logan in 2010.

Nat Weston (Foster) and Lucas Allen (Shepparton) have been appointed as Assistant Coaches to the U16 Girls. Nat is an experienced Coach from the Foster Basketball Association who was an Assistant Coach at this level in 2008. Nat has also coached a number of Foster teams in the BVCC Country Championships and will be a valuable assistant to Tony.  Lucas is a young coach from the Shepparton Basketball Association who has been involved in various Vic Country programs from Aussie Hoops, U12 Jamborees to Skills Days and as a Coach at the Australian Junior Country Basketball Cup. Lucas has worked with some experienced coaches at both Shepparton and with Vic Country and is looking forward to his first National Championship on the coaching staff.

The team will be looked after by Team Manager Michelle Stevens from the Wodonga Basketball Association. Michelle is a very experienced basketball person, who has held a number of positions within the Wodonga Basketball Association and with the SEABL team, the Albury/Wodonga Bandits.

Stepping up to the position of Head Coach of the Victorian Country U16 Boy’s Team for the first time is Wayne Royal from the Traralgon Basketball Association. Wayne has been an Assistant Coach for the U16 Boy’s, U18 Men’s and U18 Women’s at National Championship level. Wayne has just completed a BigV Championship season as Head Coach of the Latrobe Energy Men’s Team who featured in the finals for the first time in many years. Wayne has also coached extensively in the VJBL and CBL.

Garry Driver (Shepparton) returns for a second year as Assistant Coach U16 Boy’s and will be joined by Chris Clyne (Geelong). Garry was a valuable member of the 2009 Silver Medal winning Vic Country Team and together with his experience in coaching Shepparton teams in the VJBL will bring his previous Nationals experience to the table.  Chris has worked his way through the Vic Country Coaching Program attending the last 4 Pacific Coast Slams progressing from an Assistant to a Head Coach. Chris is also active in the VJBL and took the Geelong U14 Boy’s to this year’s National Club Championships finishing a very respectable fourth.

The U16 Boy’s team and the coaching staff will have Graeme Waight as the Team Manager for the second year in a row. All involved in the 2009 campaign believe that Graeme’s professionalism and dedication assisted the team achieve the result they did.

Victoria’s Country Manager, David Huxtable congratulated all on their appointments and said that he thought the mixture of experience, maturity and youth was excellent. “I am particularly pleased with the calibre of coaches we have who are actually coaching at an Association level”, David stated. “That means that Coach Development at the Association level and at the Basketball Victoria Country Office is providing opportunities for Vic Country Coaches to develop and achieve.”

“Coaches who are involved in the State program taking that experience back to their local Associations can only be a good thing for Country Basketball.” David said, and he encourages more coaches to become involved in Vic Country Basketball opportunities to assist in the development of themselves as well as assisting the athletes to improve.

The player selection process will commence early in 2010 and Victorian Country is confident that they have the players and team staff to be very competitive in Logan in July 2010.