Basketball Selector Replies

Press, Volume CIX, Issue 32036, 10 July 1969, Page 19

Basketball Selector Replies

Every effort was made to get as wide a coverage as possible of the talent available for the New Zealand junior men’s indoor basketball team, the national junior selector (Mr T. S. Wright, of Nelson) said yesterday.

He was replying to the criticism published in “The Press” on Wednesday of the method he used to choose the New Zealand under 18 team which will compete in the Australian state junior championships in Tasmania next month. Mr. Wright said the possible players had to be nominated from their play of last sea-

son, for the two week-long training clinics held in Nelson in January and May this year were essential parts of the team’s preparation. The article in “The Press” suggested it would have been better if Mr Wright had attended both the South Island and North Island colts tournaments this year before naming bis team. Mr Wright said these tournaments could have been a guide only to any 1970 junior team. He had intended going to the South Island tournament, but the New Zealand Men’s Basketball Association had then said it was not necessary for him to go to Christchurch for the tournament because there might not be a junior team touring next year.

No clinic could have been held after the island championships and still left sufficient time for the players to practise the techniques he was seeking. Most members of the team were secondary school pupils and school holidays were the only time they could spend a week at a clinic, he said. Mr Wright said he saw South Island colts matches, the national colts finals and various secondary school tournaments, which drew leading players from throughout the country, last year. A complicating factor in the selection was a change in the age limit last year for the team to travel in 1969. The age was dropped from 20 in 1967 to 18 this season. “This meant I had to be-

gin looking at new players again," he said. “I saw as many as possible and then asked various associations and coaches and people involved in schools* basketball to nominate players in case I had overlooked any.” The type of player he sought had been explained, and he had named players with whom their standard could be compared. The nominations were for the January clinic. From this clinic and from any other players who were nominated or whom he had seen this year, a squad of 15 was chosen. The New Zealand team was chosen from the May clinic and players were given a schedule of requirements needed for their play on the tour, said Mr Wright.