From the 17th 24th February Kāpiti’s Jacinta Beckley competed in the Australian Junior Championships in Tasmania as a member of the Basketball New Zealand Under 20 Women’s Team.
This is a competition for Under 20 teams from the Australian states and New Zealand.
The BBNZ U20 Women’s team unfortunately came last, but despite these results, Jacinta had an amazing personal experience and also improved her game a lot from playing in the higher level of the Australian game.
The NZ U20 Team was placed in the toughest pool coming up against the two teams that made the finals. However, coming into cross over’s, the NZ team played a lot better as they had begun to gel and get to know each other’s game better. They only lost by 4 and 6 points in their last two games.
After their last game, all the NZ players had a personal debrief with the coach to get personal feedback from the tournament. He was impressed with Jacinta’s level of commitment and hustle and said he hopes to see her back next year. He also gave her personal skills to work on and area’s to improve and develop, in hopes to make the team again next year.
Since Jacinta’s return Jacinta has also been invited to trial for the New Zealand Storm 2013 USA Tour and for the Hutt Valley Flyers 1st Division NBL Women’s Team.
