Emus bounce into Sunshine Coast
The Australian under-19 basketball team reckons its five-day high performance camp on the Sunshine Coast can help it reach new heights at next year’s FIBA World Championships.
The Australian under-19 basketball team reckons its five-day high performance camp on the Sunshine Coast can help it reach new heights at next year’s FIBA World Championships.
The Emus arrived on the Coast today and wasted little time getting familiar with their new surrounds, hitting the practice courts at University of Sunshine Coast and Sunshine Coast Grammar School before an official welcome function.
Coach Adam Caporn said the local facilities and beautiful springtime weather were ideal for his 17-man Emus squad to finetune ahead of an important next few months.
“We appreciate the efforts of the Sunshine Coast Council and generous contribution of the University of the Sunshine Coast in helping accommodate our U19 National Team Camp on the Sunshine Coast,” he said.
“The camp is an important step in our preparation towards the 2016 U18 FIBA Oceania Championships and World Championship Qualification in Fiji, December 2016.
“This camp enables us to get the group together and begin our campaign in a fresh setting with first class facilitates and the challenge of competing against the Brisbane Bullets of the NBL.
“Our aims for the camp are to begin building our systems, culture and chemistry and ultimately select and prepare a team to represent our country in the best way possible. It is an exciting time to be coming into camp having watched so many former U19 Emus athletes play so well for the Boomers recently in Rio.
“We have a young, exciting group that is hungry to contribute to the great standards established in the Emus program over many years by those and many other athletes.’’
USC Sport manager Nathan Gordon said he was confident the Sports Centre was an ideal facility for the Emus’ high performance camp.
“We’re excited about hosting this team in our high-standard facilities at USC and we hope that having the court training, strength and conditioning programs and recovery activities all in one location will benefit the Emus’ preparation for the upcoming Oceania Championships,” he said.
USC Rip City Basketball treasurer Mark Brown said the club would play host to the Emus’ during their five-day visit that would include some exciting opportunities for the Sunshine Coast community.
“The Emus will play a match against new NBL franchise the Brisbane Bullets this Saturday, September 10 at 1pm and before that match we’ll have coaching clinics involving Emus and Bullets players with youngsters from our local Aussie Hoops programs,” he said.
“As hosts of the game on Saturday, USC Rip City Basketball is looking forward to putting on a first-class event for the Sunshine Coast community.
“It’ll be a fantastic opportunity to see some of Australia’s emerging stars and the exciting new-look Bullets roster.
“Tickets are available online at www.uscbasketball.com.au and with only about 600 seats available we are encouraging fans to make sure they get in early so they don’t miss out.”
Tourism Sport and Major Events Portfolio Councillor Jason O’Pray said the Emus’ visit was another significant vote of confidence in the Sunshine Coast as the major events regional capital of Australia.
“On Sunday, we became the first destination in the southern hemisphere to host the IRONMAN 70.3 World Championships, on Monday we announced an awesome two-year partnership with Cricket Australia and today we’re playing host to the next generation of Australian basketball stars,” Cr O’Pray said.
“It really highlights the diversity of events and sporting teams we’re equipped to cater for on the Sunshine Coast and reinforces our reputation as Australia’s major events regional capital.
“We’re already in the midst of an unprecedented year in which we’re hosting 60 major sporting, music and lifestyle events, estimated to being more than 150,000 guests here from all over the world.
“Next year our region celebrates the 50th anniversary of the naming of the Sunshine Coast and we’ll also welcome our very first national elite sporting side into the Australian Netball League.
“In 2018, we’re also going to have hundreds of athletes from the Wales and Isle of Man Commonwealth Games teams coming here in the weeks leading into the 2018 Gold Coast Commonwealth Games.”
Emus squad for the Sunshine Coast high performance camp:
| Surname | Given Names | DOB | State |
| Froling | Samson James | 10/02/2000 | QLD North / CoE |
| Fullarton | Tom Adrian | 23/02/1999 | QLD South / CoE |
| Carter | Ben William | 18/09/1999 | SA |
| Kenyon | Matthew Dylan | 8/02/1998 | NSW Country |
| Mayen Nai | Lat Nai | 16/08/1998 | SA / CoE |
| Glover | Angus Jack | 8/09/1998 | NSW Country / CoE |
| Lancaster | Patrick | 7/01/1998 | NSW Country |
| Lulka | Adam | 13/05/1998 | NSW Country |
| Anticevich | Grant | 14/04/1998 | NSW |
| Maluach | Makuach | 4/05/1998 | NSW |
| White | Isaac | 22/06/1998 | SA Metro |
| Rigoni | Jacob | 10/12/1998 | SA Metro |
| Hank | Brent | 30/04/1998 | SA |
| Short | Samuel | 11/02/1998 | VIC Metro |
| Pupavac | Thomas | 24/06/1998 | VIC |
| Hadley | Gabriel | 16/01/1998 | VIC |
| Maker | Matur Marial | 01/01/1998 | NSW |
| Surname | Given Names | Title |
| Caporn | Adam | Head Coach |
| Radford | Mark | Ass. Coach |
| Mallon | Timothy | Ass. Coach |
| Spear | David | Ass. Coach |
| Suffolk | Peter | Physiotherapist |
| O’Neill | Ben | Video |
| Akdeniz | Mert | Team Manager |