Across the ocean for qualifier return

A RISING Ballarat basketballer will be representing the region as part of a ten-person under-seventeens Australian men’s team taking part in the FIBA Oceania Championships next month.

With about six games taking place throughout the first week of October, Ballarat Miners’ Ned Renfree will test his skills on the court for the event at Port Moresby in Papa New Guinea.

As one of three Victorian players in the Australian team, Renfree said it’s an honour to be representing the region.

“Obviously being one of the guys from a small country town, this doesn’t happen for guys like us so I’m really stoked,” he said.

“I think the main challenge will be gelling as a group since we haven’t had a huge amount of time together. We had a three-day trial camp up in Canberra about a month ago with about five sessions.”

The event will be the first FIBA Oceania qualifier since before the pandemic.

In preparing for the event, Renfree has been training with coaches Eric Hayes Basketball Ballarat, Miners’ Luke Sunderland, and Basketball Victoria’s high-performance head coach for country men Nathan Cooper-Brown.

The top-two performing teams in the event will qualify to compete in the 2024 FIBA Under 18 Asia Championship, which will lead into the FIBA Under 19 World Cup the following year.

Renfree said competing in the upcoming games will be a major boost for his development.

“It’ll be huge for my development to go up against international-sized players from other countries like New Zealand,” he said.

“It’ll get me in front of scouts from around the world and ultimately get me playing in front of bigger and better players.”