Changes likely for U.S. tour

Press, 8 September 1984, Page 76

Changes likely for U.S. tour

NZPA Singapore Only eight members of the New Zealand basketball team which completed its South-East Asian tour against Korea yesterday are likely to be invited to try for a 24-day tour to the United States west coast in November. The coach, Peter Schmidt, plans to select a fullstrength national team for the arduous November 4 to 28 tour to California and Canada, involving 11 games. The side will not resemble the inexperienced group he has led through SouthEast Asia to three wins in 11 matches. “I’m still working towards the future," said. Mr Schmidt. “And if it’s a question of taking a young guy or an old guy in one position, at this stage I’m likely to favour the young player. But we want to be as close to full-strength as possible.” With this in mind, Mr Schmidt recently advised the New Zealand federation to seek confirmation from eight players at home regarding their availability

for the November tour. He specifically requested that the former captain Stan Hill and Peter Logan, John Rademakers, Paul Ogilvy, Riwi Thompson, Tony Compain, Eric Howard and Nick Costley be approached.

“I have no real idea if all of these guys are available until we ring them over the week-end,” said Mr Schmidt. “I understand that it has been published in Auckland that all these guys will automatically be invited to the September 20-21 trial. But that is not yet the case and I will not be making ’any definite decisions until on our flight home on Sunday night”. The coach did concede that he had received an indication of interest from Hill, Logan, Ogilvy, Costley and Rademakers. All the players contacted have already represented New Zealand except for Thompson and Compain. Thompson has only just returned from attending a small college in New Jersey, while Compain is a leading member of the national junior team this year.