Four of Mount Gambier’s elite junior basketballers travel to Tamworth in regional NSW later this week as members of the SA Country State Under 16 teams to compete in the 2012 National Championships, which begin on Saturday July 7^th.

The Lakers representatives are Sam Stafford, Stephen Sochacki, Brad Rathjen and Rachael Hines.

Stafford and Sochacki played in the 2012 Australian Country Junior Basketball Cup in Albury in January while Rathjen and Hines were members of the SA Country Under 15 teams which competed in the Pacific Slam in Port Macquarie in January.

Stafford and Sochacki have been showing impressive form over the series of training sessions, while being selected in the state teams as bottom age players is a big achievement for Rathjen and Hines.

Reports show that the teams have made steady progress over the several months of training. The SA Country Boys lost by a healthy margin to SA Metro early in their preparation, but then easily accounted for their metropolitan counterparts two weeks ago. The SA Country girls went down to the metro line-up in both their meets but the margin was significantly less in their last outing.

These national championships provide the participants with an understanding of what it takes tom represent their state or territory at an elite competition. They are the first of a series of stepping stones, which could lead to international representation.

The SA Country Boys meet a tough opponent in Queensland North in their opening game. Other members of their pool are NSW Country, N.T., Vic. Country, Tasmania and WA Metro.

In contrast the SA Country Girls will be quietly confident of a win against ACT on the opening day of the championships. They also have some quality teams in their pool; WA Metro, Vic. Metro, N.T., Queensland South, and NSW Country.

Semi-finals and ranking games are played on Friday with further rankings and grand finals decided on Saturday.