New South Wales Primary Schools girl’s basketball coach Claire Hargreaves didn’t need to push the prospects of Dubbo girls Demi Storch and Ashleigh Taylor before the State side was announced: “They picked themselves,” she said.
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Hargreaves spent three days at Maitland last week watching the NSW PSSA championships and when it got down to the final selection meeting she said she didn’t have to tell her fellow selectors how good ‘her’ local girls were.
Demi is a student at St John’s Primary in Dubbo and was representing Polding at the championships, while Ashleigh from Dubbo Public School was part of the Western Area side.
They were later named in the NSW side to play in the Australian Championships in Darwin from August 7-14 with Hargreaves the coach.
Both girls and their families are now loaded with the task of raising $1400 for the trip with schools and basketball both expected to hold fundraising exercises in the next couple of months.
Hargreaves, the Dubbo Rams State League women’s captain and head of the junior coaching panel with Dubbo Basketball, is confident the selectors have got it right.
“Both Demi and Ashleigh are two of the really talented players in the Dubbo development program,” Hargreaves said.
“They took their A games to Maitland and all the selectors at our meetings spoke highly of the way they played.
“I didn’t have to push their barrow when it came down to the final selections.
“I’ve had a fair bit to do with both girls for some time and really; they are what the junior program here in Dubbo is all about.”
Ashleigh and Demi have been playing the game for some time and have been a part of Hargreaves’ Dubbo Rams representative under-12s squad for the past two years.
“The two girls are also members of our Talented Athletics Program starting in the under-12s and now in the under age under-14s,” Hargreaves said.
“They have been showing good progress with their development for some time and it was pleasing initially to see them in teams for the State carnival.
“Demi played a leading role for Polding in their overall carnival success while Ashleigh’s Western team finished in eighth placing.
Kirsty Trethowan from St Mary’s Dubbo was also in the Polding side and in the mix for State selection while a fourth Dubbo girl Abbi Merritt (Dubbo South Primary) was a team-mate of Ashleigh in the Western side.
n NSW Primary School’s basketball team:
Demi Storch (St John’s primary, Dubbo), Ashleigh Taylor (Dubbo Public School), C Evans (Temora), B Delaney (Northbridge), E Hewitt (Sawtell), R Black (Bishop Druitt Coll), S Brenton (St Joseph’s Como), M Goddard (Terrigal PS), M Jurlina (Curl Curl PS), R Georgiou (PLC).
Mgr: D Collins (St Joseph’s Narrandera), Claire Hargreaves (St Laurence’s Dubbo).