EIGHT JUNIOR SABRES TEAMS QUALIFY FOR VJBL VC
In another outstanding achievement for the Southern Basketball Association, eight junior Sabres teams have qualified for VJBL Victorian Championship, the top junior representative competition in Victoria.
Congratulations to the following teams:
Girls Boys
12.1 12.1
14.1 14.1
14.2 16.1
16.1
18.1
With five teams qualifying in 2019, the step up for VJBL 20 is an amazing effort for all players, coaches and staff.
On the girls side, all four ‘ones’ teams have qualified for VC, alongside the 14.2s. With the 14, 16 and 18s all booking their spots before 2019 closed, the 12s made it a clean sweep of age groups early in the new year. The 14.2s added a cherry on top with their qualification, highlighting the strength in the future of girl’s basketball at the SABREDOME.
“It’s an outstanding result for the Sabres Girls program. Our girls are extremely fortunate to have coaches who are knowledgeable and passionate about coaching girls basketball. It’s a credit to our coaches that their program continues to go from strength to strength. To have five teams into VC is an outstanding result. The 14.2 girls qualifying is pretty special – their coach Erik Wickstrom has coached a lot of the girls in our program and he deserves a lot of credit. We’ve built a really solid foundation for the future of our program and our player development pathway is extremely strong”, said Girls Head Coach Simon Giovannoni.
With the 14.1 boys qualifying for VC Friday night, the tally grows to three for boys teams in the top flight. The 14.1 boys were forced to go the long way to earn their place, winning a crossover game against Dandenong on Friday Night. They join the 12.1 and 16.1 boys, who both solidified their positions last year.
“It’s really pleasing for us to see our 12s through 16s boys teams into VC for the 2020 season. The coaches have done a great job of implementing the systems that we wanted and the results are a testament to that. Our pathway is intent on moving players through towards playing at the VYC and NBL1 level. That opportunity is still there for the Under 18 players in the Sabres program”, said Boys Head Coach Nathan Crosswell.
On behalf of the entire Southern Basketball Association, congratulations to all eight junior Sabres teams, and we look forward to cheering you on as you bring home the championships!
The junior Sabres are the representative program of the Southern Basketball Association. It has produced players such as David Barlow and David Patrick. It provides a pathway from domestic basketball to elite and is the starting point for all juniors to begin their elite basketball career before progressing through State programs, Big V, NBL1 and beyond.