A RISING Ballarat basketballer will be representing the region as part of a ten-person under-seventeens Australian men\u2019s team taking part in the FIBA Oceania Championships next month.<\/p>\n
With about six games taking place throughout the first week of October, Ballarat Miners\u2019 Ned Renfree will test his skills on the court for the event at Port Moresby in Papa New Guinea.<\/p>\n
As one of three Victorian players in the Australian team, Renfree said it\u2019s an honour to be representing the region.<\/p>\n
\u201cObviously being one of the guys from a small country town, this doesn\u2019t happen for guys like us so I\u2019m really stoked,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think the main challenge will be gelling as a group since we haven\u2019t 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.\u201d<\/p>\n
The event will be the first FIBA Oceania qualifier since before the pandemic.<\/p>\n
In preparing for the event, Renfree has been training with coaches Eric Hayes Basketball Ballarat, Miners\u2019 Luke Sunderland, and Basketball Victoria\u2019s high-performance head coach for country men Nathan Cooper-Brown.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
Renfree said competing in the upcoming games will be a major boost for his development.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019ll be huge for my development to go up against international-sized players from other countries like New Zealand,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019ll get me in front of scouts from around the world and ultimately get me playing in front of bigger and better players.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A RISING Ballarat basketballer will be representing the region as part of a ten-person under-seventeens Australian men\u2019s team taking part in the FIBA Oceania Championships next month. With about six games taking place throughout the first week of October, Ballarat Miners\u2019 Ned Renfree will test his skills on the court for the event at Port […]<\/p>\n