Miners add youth to roster

WITH the NBL1 South 2023 season fast approaching, both Ballarat Miners squads have added two more names to their team sheets.

Both recent editions come from the club’s youth corps, with Amos Brooks conformed for the men’s team and local product Jemma Amoore reconfirming for the women’s squad.

A 17-year-old guard, Amoore came through the Basketball Ballarat system and took to the court nine times for the senior women’s Miners in 2022 in limited minutes.

She also spent with the Miners’ youth team in the Big V league.

“I re-signed with the Ballarat Miners as it is a club that has helped me tremendously throughout my juniors and now preparing me as I enter senior basketball,” Amoore said.

“I have established many great relationships and it is very special being able to play with some of my closest friends that I have grown up with playing for Ballarat along with coaches that have been instrumental in my development since the beginning of my basketball journey.”

Also recommitting for the Miners was Amos Brooks.

Like Amoore, Brooks is a younger player and split his time in 2022 with the senior NBL1 South squad and the Miners’ Big V Youth League championship team.

In the NBL1 the forward averaged nine minutes a game in 20 appearances, while his Big V stat line saw him pull 21 minutes, nearly 10 points and more than five rebounds per game.

“After spending a couple of seasons away from basketball through COVID, the coaching staff across Youth League and NBL1 Miners have reignited my passion for basketball,” he said.

“The confidence that is instilled in myself and the team from all coaches involved has inspired me to continue my career.

“It is well known that Ballarat has one of the best communities and deepest roots in basketball across Victoria and Australia as a whole and being a local player I truly love having the opportunity to give back to a club that has given me so much.”