Wheelkings and Razorbacks in Australian Gliders World Cup team
Basketball Australia has announced the twelve athletes selected to represent the Australian Women’s Wheelchair Basketball Team (Gliders) at the 2010 IWBF Wheelchair Basketball World Championships in Birmingham, England from July 7-17.
The Gliders will be captained by former Wenty Leagues Wheelkings guard Tina McKenzie, whose experience with the Gliders dates back to her inclusion as a reserve for the team at the 2000 Paralympic Games in Sydney.
McKenzie, along with her former NSW team-mates Liesl Tesch, Katie Hill, Sarah Stewart and Kylie Gauci, will look to guide the side to its first ever Gold medal at the World Championships.
The 2010 event will be the fourth occasion of the Women’s Championship - Canada has won the Gold on all three previous occasions. The Gliders team includes ten of the twelve athletes from the Australian Bronze medal-winning team at the 2008 Paralympic Games in Beijing.
Prior to the World Championships the Gliders travelled to Berlin on July 2 - 4 for a four nations’ tournament. The Gliders lost the final of the tournament 80-55, to host country Germany.
A poor shooting percentage game resulted in Germany winning convincingly over the Aussies.
The Germans dominated the game from the outset opening an early lead of 11 points in the first quarter and the Gliders were not able to reduce this deficit.
The Aussies were able to stem the tide in the second quarter to go into halftime down 12 points, 34-22. But the flood gates opened in the second half with the Germans building on their 12 point lead to win by 25 points.
High percentage shooting of Mohnen and Schunemann for the Germans, especially with limited time on the shot clock gave the host team the winning edge.
For the Gliders Kylie Gauci again battled valiantly for 11 points. Cobi Crispin worked hard at both ends of the court for seven points and four rebounds. Coming off the bench, Leanne del Toso and Bridie Kean scored 10 and seven points respectively.
Gliders Coach John Triscari, said "I was disappointed given the performance of the team in the game last night where we defeated the current World Champions, Canada, shooting at a high percentage which could not be replicated again today against what I consider to be one of the top Women’s Wheelchair Basketball Teams in the world."
The Gliders begin their World Championships campaign on July 8 when they will meet Mexico in their first game of the Preliminary Rounds.
The Australians have been drawn in Pool A, which also includes The Netherlands, Great Britain, Mexico, and the defending champions, Canada.
Gliders’ 2010 IWBF World Championships Team:
Name/Age/Club/Classification
Melanie DOMASCHENZ / 26 / Victorian Dandenong Rangers / 1.0
Cobi CRISPIN / 21 / Perth Western Stars / 4.0
Bridie KEAN / 23 / Victorian Dandenong Rangers / 4.0
Amber MERRITT / 17 / Perth Western Stars / 4.5
Tina MCKENZIE (c) / 35 / Victorian Dandenong Rangers NWBL (formerly Wenty Leagues Wheelkings (2009) / 3.0
Liesl TESCH / 41 / Sydney Uni Wheelchair Flames WNWBL / 4.0
Clare BURZYNSKI / 23 / Perth Western Stars / 1.0
Kylie GAUCI / 25 / Goudkamp Gladiators WNWBL / Wenty Leagues Wheelkings NWBL 2.0
Sarah STEWART / 34 / Sydney Uni Wheelchair Flames WNWBL / West Sydney Razorbacks NWBL / 3.0
Katie HILL / 26 / Sydney Uni Wheelchair Flames WNWBL / West Sydney Razorbacks NWBL / 3.0
Leanne DEL TOSO / 29 / Victorian Dandenong Rangers / 4.0
Shelley CHAPLIN / 25 / Victorian Dandenong Rangers / 3.5
For updates on Gliders’ performances go to: www.basketball.net.au/index.php?id=284
Blacktown City has all teams in Youth League play-off contention
With three rounds to play Blacktown City has all five of its five teams in the NSW Premier Youth League competition in positions to make the play-offs. The under 14s are best placed coming second one point behind Manly United but with a game in hand. Both the 15s and 16s are in fifth spot while the under 13s are holding down 6th position.
While the 18s are in eighth position they are only 2 points behind 5th and 6th placed teams (Sydney United and West Sydney Berries) with a game in hand.
The Blacktown teams’ next three rounds as they vie for the play-offs are:
Saturday July 17 against Sutherland Sharks at Seymour Shaw Park.
Saturday July 24 against Sydney United at Lily Homes.
Saturday July 31 against Bankstown City at Jensen Park.
All games begin with the under 13s at 9am. For further information and results during June go to: http://www.sportingpulse.com/comp_info.cgi?c=1-5977-0-102186-0&pool=0&round=0&a=ROUND
Parramatta Wildcats endure horror weekend
The Parramatta Wildcats have endured one of their worst weekends in their strong history in the Waratah Basketball League (WBL) competition, losing both games of a tough double-header in Warriewood and Newcastle to potentially put their playoff hopes in jeopardy.
The Wildcats were without three starters for the weekend, with Goran Veg, Ing Lau and Adi Causevic all missing due to personal commitments and their combined absence would prove to be decisive.
The weekend started disastrously for the competition leaders, with former West Sydney Razorbacks and Cairns Taipans NBL point guard Ben Arkell turning back the hands of time on Saturday night.
The wily veteran showcased all of his renowned silken skills to guide the second-placed Manly Warringah Sea Eagles to a comfortable 105-80 win, shooting the ball at seventy percent from the field and one hundred percent from the free throw line.
Stefan Blaszczynski almost matched his opponent, scoring 36 points and grabbing 12 boards for the Wildcats but there would be stronger support from the Sea Eagles bench, allowing the sea-siders to grab a crucial win as they chase their second successive minor premiership.
Fortune appeared to have turned for the Wildcats on Sunday, as they surged to a 26-15 lead at the first break and led 56-34 at half time against the Newcastle Hunters.
The action however was torrid and the Wildcats looked to be in trouble heading into 'money-time' with Graeme Dann, Stefan Blaszczynski and Kristian Blaszczynski all sitting on four fouls.
The final quarter featured a whirlwind finish from the Hunters, who swept aside the best defensive efforts of the Wildcats, as player after player from both teams fouled out of the game.
American import Nicholas Freer had been the architect of the Wildcat's demise in the first game between the two teams and was again the catalyst of the home team's recovery on Sunday, finishing the game with 24 points and 8 boards to lead the Hunters to their second win over the Wildcats this season.
Wildcats head coach John Hennessy said "Fatigue was a killer for us on Sunday, after having played in Sydney on Saturday night then having to travel up here (Newcastle) on Sunday morning".
"We also lost Chuck (Charles Bloemen) and Sammy (Tsegay) for Sunday's game through work commitments so we were really hard up against it".
"The Hunters were strong with (Nicholas) Freer but now they've added another American (Marcus Vanderheide) they will be really tough to beat in the playoffs, provided we still get there" said a wary Hennessy.
The Wildcats need to regroup strongly this Saturday in Sutherland and whilst it may be too late to regain the lead in the competition, they must keep winning to finish in the top two spots and thereby gain a favourable playoff berth.
Veg, Lau and Causevic will still be absent, giving the Wildcats the rare experience of going into a WBL game as underdogs, rather than favourites.
SAT: Manly Warringah Sea Eagles 105 def Parramatta Wildcats 80 (Stefan Blaszczynski 36 points, 12 boards; Graeme Dann 15 points, 10 boards; Clint Reed 15 points)
SUN: Newcastle Hunters 98 def Parramatta Wildcats 90 (Stefan Blaszczynski 26 points, Clint Reed 20, Graeme Dann 17, Sam McBeath 13)
For more stories on the Parramatta Wildcats and to follow their performances during July go to: http://parramatta.sportslive.com.au/index.pl?page=796
Sudan advocate, Lidcombe PCYC supporter, NBA star Manute Bol dies at 47
Former NBA star Manute Bol has died in hospital in America. Bol visited Australia in 2007 and visited his former country-men at the Lidcombe PCYC, which was covered by local media in Parramatta and Auburn.
In spite of achieving fame in the highest rated basketball competition in the world, Bol never forgot his roots, sending millions of dollars back to his homeland Sudan.
The following text comes from a post on the OzHoops website regarding Bol’s fight to save the Sudanese from annihilation in their own country.
“Both Bol and a guy named Simon Deng worked tirelessly to fight the jihad, the mass slaughter and starvation in their homeland. Bol was a Sudanese-born basketball player and activist. He marched in the Sudan Freedom march against the jihad in Sudan that took the lives of millions.
Bol's most lasting legacy may be his efforts to use his celebrity to improve conditions in war-torn Sudan.
"God guided me to America and gave me a good job," he told Sports Illustrated in 2004. "But he also gave me a heart so I would look back."
Manute Bol called the UN a failure, said the African Union forces were weak, afraid, ineffective. He fought to have NATO stop the killing, the slavery, and the unspeakable crimes against humanity.
In our interview he said: "Every day we are losing life, losing life. If no action is taken, by next year you're going to see a million lives lost."
So Manute and his best friend went to over 39 Congressmen personally and met with the Pentagon in the 90's telling them that their people were being decimated by the Arab Muslims from the North and would disappear if the US did not help. He said they got nothing.
So Manute reached into his own pockets in the millions to help support the starving refugees who had witnessed their homes and families destroyed.
And so Bol ended up broke. So much so that former NBA friends held a benefit to raise $$ for his huge health bills after a drunk cab driver flipped a car Bol was in.
Bol, who was seriously injured in a car accident in 2004, was hospitalized in May after returning to the United States from Sudan. He was helping build a school with Sudan Sunrise, a humanitarian group based in Kansas, but stayed longer than expected after the president of southern Sudan asked him to make election appearances, Prichard told the Associated Press.
"I never thought about the money I lost," Bol told the New York Daily News in 2004. "It wasn't lost. It helped Sudan."
Bol's finances collapsed after he left the NBA, in part from the millions he spent on Sudan and in part from investments that went bad.
"He always did a lot for his people," Warriors coach Don Nelson told the Montreal Gazette in 2002. "He gave his own money to support his people who were starving."
Bol died at the University of Virginia Hospital in Charlottesville, where he was being treated for severe kidney trouble and a painful skin condition, said Tom Prichard, executive director of the group Sudan Sunrise”
NSW Sport and Recreation’s Kids Camps
NSW Sport and Recreation is organising various kids’ camps for the July School holidays. For details go to: http://www.dsr.nsw.gov.au/kidscamps/?utm_medium=email&utm_source=Emailcampaign&utm_content=275246299&utm_campaign=E-updatefromSportandRecreation-April2010+_+okrhui&utm_term=winterkidscamps
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