Keilor Basketball Association has proved it has some of the state’s most promising juniors.
The Thunder has qualified for this month’s national championships in the under-14 boys division.
It wasn’t all smooth sailing at the state titles, with the Thunder having to reel off eight straight wins to secure its place among the country’s 24 best teams.
Keilor lost its first round match of the Victorian championships to the Melbourne Tigers. Knowing his side would likely need an 8-1 record to progress to the next round, Thunder coach John Armstead was full of praise for the fight shown by his young charges.
“After round one we really couldn’t afford to have a slip up, because we would have been gone,” he said.
“I was … thinking we were in a bit of strife, because we had no room to move.
‘‘As it panned out, we reeled off the next eight in a row to get us through.
“The kids are very resilient and have a lot of faith in their ability. I have coached them for the majority of the last three or four years.
‘‘We have done a hell of a lot of work in that time on our skills and all that sort of stuff. They are very smart kids.”
The national championships will be held in Albury from September 29. The seven-day event will split the 24 teams into six pools of four. After three round robin matches, the top two from each pool will compete for a top 12 ranking.
Armstead hopes the evenness of his side will secure its place in the top bracket.
“I think our biggest strength is the fact that we don’t have a star player,” he said.
“Some sides have got a couple of really dominant players. We don’t have that, but we have a really good even spread of 10 kids who are good players.
“It gives us a lot of depth and means that if one or two aren’t playing well, then we are flexible enough to be able to throw someone else in and they get the job done.”
