Gold, Gold, Gold for Bendigo Braves Under 12 Blue

BENDIGO Braves U12 Development Team Blue has achieved an amazing feat, winning gold medals in three of their recent tournaments.

The team of eleven boys also scored silver medals in two other tournaments.

“The Bendigo Junior Braves representative basketball program has been running for many years,” said team manager Sarah McMillan. “It is a fantastic achievement to make it into a team with prospective players attending a series of three try-outs.

“The Under 12s is the youngest group with Under 14s, 16s and 18s for both boys and girls.

“This year there were 30 Bendigo Junior Braves teams.”

Once accepted into a team, players commence training in August and finish in April the following year.

“Each team has a coach, an assistant coach and a team manager,” said Ms McMillan.

“They all work closely with the players to aid their development as much as possible and the teams attend a variety of tournaments across the state.

“This year we were one of five under 12 teams. In November we competed in the Southern Peninsula Tournament and were runners-up.

“We narrowly missed on a finals spot in Shepparton in early December, then were again runners-up in Bendigo in January.

“The boys then won the next three tournaments in a row at Wodonga, Benalla and the South Eastern Tournament in Melbourne.

“I loved being part of this Junior Braves season as team manager, watching my son and his teammates improve skills and develop fantastic friendships.

“As a development team, they had such great success.

“I think it was attributable to the quality coaching and guidance of the Junior Braves program as well as their determination and hard work.”

Proud parent Matthew Burton said the season had been exceptionally beautiful to watch.

“The 11 boys in the Under 12 Blue squad have been such a wonderful group to watch play as they worked together.

“They all have a great attitude, and it shows on and off the court.

“They are always smiling and high-fiving each other.

“We had a great group of parents too, and all are understandably very proud.”