Men, women turn up to train at Eric Woo courts
SIXTEEN men and nine women showed up with Lae Basketball Association president Bob Aaron at the Eric Woo Courts to trial for the national five-on-five training squad over the weekend.
Basketball Federation of Papua New Guinea (BFPNG) executive officer Nick Daroa was pleased to see a number of junior elites, including Jabez Philemon and Bianca Tuckayo.
The pair represented PNG in the Under-15 Fiba Oceania inaugural championships in Port Moresby in 2018.
Tuckayo is part of a group of four young female basketball leaders nominated by BFPNG to attend a basketball leadership camp in the United States, thanks to the US Department of State.
BFPNG national selectors led by assistant coach Boyet Daroya (men) and head coach Moi Muri (women) travelled to Lae last Thursday for the trials.
Jenny Magatu was the independent selector for women in place of Iammo Launa who could not travel.
Alain Boussouggu was also present as an independent selector for the national men’s team.
“The queens of Eric Woo Courts, Unitech Bulls, were missing but we hope to see them and their development players in Goroka,” BFPNG said in a statement.
Beginning with basic physical screening by a high performance unit, the candidates were then put through a skills challenge to test basic dribbling, shooting and passing.
The candidates then took part in drills and activities designed to showcase their strengths with the criteria set out in a revised selection policy that was shared on Nov 5.
“BFPNG thanks Lae coaches Male Ngalau and Fred Lavaki for providing invaluable assistance with the trials,” the sport’s national governing body said.
One thought on “Men, women turn up to train at Eric Woo courts”
It would be best to host a National Basketball Championship so all the participating registered associations with BFPNG, in every provinces will have a fair chances for the selectors to scout out new and raw basketball talents and develope their players from each respective register association rather then hosting a two day trials to select players which I guess is against the By-Laws of Basketball PNG Federation as it will be a slap in the face as there will be same old faces representing the country with same old excuses that of visa and passport problem. Also due to Convid19, there was no competitons throughout the entire country and it’s registered members association in each centres, and to host a two day Selection Trials here in Lae and up at Goroka to select the National Team is unfair and just because alot of good players will be missed out with the same old tactics and excuses that Execuetives of BFPNG and their Selectors always used and is against the BYLAWS of BFPNG. BFPNG must request a member association to host a National Championships so slelectors can have a open and positive mind in the selection. Please let’s be more transparent in the selection of our PNG Basketball National Team for both our mens and womens Team then to select only Team Port Moresby as it was done some previous years back that only the Port Moresby base players were selected to represent the whole of PNG is a great shame to our nation as whole. Please do away with this Trial Selections and host a Basketball National Championship early next year 2021 so Selectors can select the best team of both mens and womens.
Thank you and over to the Execuetives of BFPNG. Wanem taim bai yumi senis?
_Observer Technical Team-Lae.
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