Australia - Bree and Kelsey tour France with Gems
AIS scholarship holders Kelsey Ireland and Bree Farley, both of Kadina, have been named in the Under 19 Australian Gems Team to tour France, June 15-29.
From ypct.com
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AIS scholarship holders Kelsey Ireland and Bree Farley, both of Kadina, have been named in the Under 19 Australian Gems Team to tour France, June 15-29.
The Gems will play in seven games over two tournaments. In their first tournament, the “Reze International”, they will play Turkey, Czech Republic and France, their fourth game being a play-off game. The second tournament will be held in Fougeres, France, the girls scheduled to compete against Turkey, Romania and Lithuania.
Of the 12 girls in the team, 10 are AIS scholarship holders, the remaining two positions going to former AIS scholarship holder Katie-Rae Ebzury and South Queensland native Gretel Tippitt.
Head coach will be current AIS women’s coach Dean Kinsman and he will be assisted by the WNBL Dandenong Rangers head coach Dale Waters.
The Gems will play in a number of tournaments throughout the year, all in preparation for the 2009 Under 19 World Championships held in Thailand.
As the team is re-selected before each tournament, Kelsey and Bree will need to maintain their form to ensure their selection on each occasion.
The first of these preparation games was held last Monday and Tuesday at the AIS in Canberra against the Chinese Taipei senior women’s team.
The Gems came out on top in Monday night’s game, 72 to 68. Bree was the second-highest point scorer with 13 points in 13 minutes. Kelsey started in the point guard position and finished up with two points in eight minutes.
Tuesday’s results were similar to the day before, the Gems winning by five points (69 to 64). Kelsey and Bree contributed about 12 minutes each.
July 20-24, the Gems will travel to Chinese Taipei to compete in the William Jones Cup.
The real challenge will come in August as the Gems must defeat New Zealand in a three game series to qualify for the 2009 World Championships.
This tournament, the FIBA Oceania Qualifications, will be held in Adelaide, August 1-3.
Kelsey and Bree hope to have lots of family and friends come along to support them as they represent Australia.