BENDIGO teenagers Jake Cowling and Austen Flint are aiming to rack up the points, assists, steals and rebounds when they represent Victoria Country at next week’s national under-18 basketball championships.
Also on court will be another of Bendigo’s young guns, the AIS-based Kerryn Harrington in the under-18 girls’ action.
The Victorians will have home-court advantage when the titles tip off at Ballarat’s Minerdome on Saturday.
Cowling, Flint and their team-mates have put in many months of training for the titles showdown.
Victoria Country has not won the national under-18 boys’ crown since 1990.
Cowling will represent Victoria Country for the first time.
The forward has put in a lot of time on court practising his shooting and rebounding skills with the squad and also with Flint, and his dad, Braves’ legend, David Flint.
"There have been a lot of training sessions and camps," Cowling said.
"Every workout has helped improve my game in some way."
An emergency for last year’s under-18 titles, Austen Flint has kept on sharpening his skills.
Flint believes Victoria Country has a great chance of achieving a long-awaited gold medal win.
"This squad has prepared really well," he said of the challenges against the powerful Victoria metro and NSW metro teams.
Game one will be against NSW metro on Saturday night.
Victoria Country’s opponents in the pool matches will be Northern Territory, South Australia Country, Queensland northern, WA metro, and Australian Capital Territory.
The top two in each pool progress to the semi-finals.
Cowling and Flint said to be representing Victoria Country was a tremendous honour.
"We have put a lot of work in, but there’s a lot more to be done," Flint said of the quest by the Luke Bovilak-coached team to be No.1 at tournament end.
Bovilak said Flint’s passing skills and being an "on-court general" in the point guard role were a huge plus for the team.
Cowling’s athleticism and ability to take on much taller opponents is a major strength of his game.
Bendigo’s young guns have overcome setbacks to be on court and warming up for the titles.
Flint was an emergency for last year’s national titles.
A knee reconstruction put Cowling off the court for a year.
Memories of those disappointments played a part in their drive toward earning selection for the titles.