The Centre of Excellence basketball program is a key part of the Basketball Australia national player pathway, with the primary objective of developing potential international athletes to represent the Boomers and Opals.  

Starting this month and housed at the AIS, 11 females and 12 males aged between 15-20 years will tip-off their journey to follow in the foot-steps of many notable
Australian basketballers who have represented the country on the world stage.

Famous names including four time Olympian Lauren Jackson, Australia’s first ever No.1 NBA draft pick Andrew Bogut, three time NBA Champion Luc Longley, Australian Boomers Patrick Mills and Nathan Jawai and WNBA star Penny Taylor have all progressed from the AIS basketball program to be standouts world-wide.

Basketball Australia Chief Executive Officer Kristina Keneally said the National Centre of Excellence program continued to go from strength to strength, with the current class of players having earned their place among some rigid competition.

“The AIS basketball program, established in 1981, is widely regarded as one of the world’s leading development programs,” Ms Keneally said.

“On behalf of the basketball community, I’d like to congratulate the 22 young men and women selected for this year’s program, who undertook a long process of observation and evaluation.

“All of these 23 players were identified with having the potential to one day proudly represent Australia at the senior national and international level.

“I have no doubt this is the start of an amazing year for them to live and breathe the game they love and prepare them for the rigours of competition mentally, physically and emotionally.

“We wish them all the very best of luck for the year ahead and are excited about what talents we will uncover.”

AIS Director Matt Favier is confident that the program will continue to achieve excellent results in high performance development.

“When we announced Australia’s Winning Edge late last year we set some ambitious but achievable targets for Australia’s international performance in world championships, Olympics, Paralympics, and Commonwealth Games.

“I have no doubt that, in partnership with Basketball Australia, we can continue to produce young basketabllers capable of succeeding on the world stage, Mr Favier said.

The Australian Government contributes more than $5.7 million in annual funding to support the development of basketball at both the elite and grassroots level. This includes $5 million per year in high performance support

The Basketball Australia AIS 2013 National Centre of Excellence scholarship recipients are:

WOMEN
1. Louise Brown                    Victoria
2. Stephanie Collins              Victoria
3. Alicia Froling                     Queensland
4. Keely Froling                     Queensland
5. Darcee Garbin                   Western Australia
6. Tiana Mangakahia            Queensland
7. Maddison Penn                 New South Wales
8. Stephanie Talbot              South Australia
9. Abigail Wehrung               Victoria
10. Alex Wilson                       South Australia
11. Carly Turner                   Victoria
 
MEN
1. Abiola Akintola                  Victoria
2. Madol Chol                        New South Wales
3. Mirko Djeric                       New South Wales
4. Adrija Dumovic                  New South Wales
5. Nicholas Duncan               New South Wales
6. Dante Exum                      Victoria
7. Felix von Hofe                   Victoria
8. Jack McVeigh                    Queensland
9. Gerard Martin                    New South Wales
10. Emmett Naar                     New South Wales
11. Jock Perry                         Victoria
12. Dane Pineau                     Victoria