AUS - Mark: Boomers Worthy of their place

ISTANBUL (2010 FIBA World Championship) - At just 27 years of age Mark Worthington is one of the veterans of this years young Australian Boomers team.
 
And after playing at the 2006 FIBA World Championship and the 2008 Olympics, Worthington has learned many lessons but the first that came to mind for his young teammates was simple. Not to go against America (USA) in a crossover! he laughed, after facing that fate at the last two major championships.
 
We were very wary of that fourth spot, and when people were cheering for Brazil against USA, I was thinking in the back of my mind I dont want Brazil to win because there is every chance we could play America in a crossover.
 
But Worthington is also excited to see so much young talent coming through to set the Boomers up for high performance for years to come. I just think the experience and the court time the young guys have got is invaluable. Like Patty (Mills) playing a great back up role to CJ (Bruton) in 2008 and now being the guy.
 
And probably seeing the evolution of the Adam Gibsons, the Damian Martins, Brad Newley having all the experience overseas.
 
Worthingtons international journey also started young and unexpectedly in 2005, before he had even made his professional debut for the Sydney Kings. I can remember the first phone call I got from (then coach Brian) Goorjian asking if Id be in the national team squad, and it just blew my mind away, he said.
 
And six years down the track I am still here and its still a great honour every time I put on the green and gold.
 
Worthington, who spent last year with both the Melbourne Tigers in Australia and Brose Baskets Bamberg in Germany, has been one of the Boomers best performers so far in Turkey.
 
His steady influence and pressure shooting are in stark contrast to his professional season, where he struggled for consistency and shot the ball at just 38% across both countries. Brett (Brown) calls me the bench leader, he said.
 
I seem to find myself in two different roles from the NBL to the national season, and I feel quite comfortable with the role that I do have on the national team.
 
I am glad that I am playing behind guys of the calibre of Dave (Andersen) and Matty (Nielsen) and Truck (Aleks Maric), and it takes a lot of pressure off me, I can just go out and play hard and thats usually what I do best.
 
And he said the Boomers know they have a tough game against Slovenia, but are full of self belief.
 
Our team has really shown what we are capable of and we have gone from strength to strength throughout the tournament. Obviously we were disappointed with the two losses considering we were definitely in the games, bit overall we have a lot of confidence going in to this Slovenian game, he said confidently.
 
Coming down the last two minutes we were definitely a good chance. At the end of the day we still have a very young team and experiences like those two games have been invaluable, he added. I think if we get in that situation again we can definitely resurrect the two losses we had earlier.
 
As for Worthington himself, he was hoping to get a contract in Europe for this season to gain new experiences, but with no offers coming and all roster places in the Australian NBL filled, he finds himself in an unusual situation. I dont have a job at the moment, he rued.
 
I guess every game at the moment is an auditioning process for me, Ill just have to wait and see.
 
FIBA
Paulo Kennedy