Basketball Australia has named the team that will represent Australia at the Albert Schweitzer Tournament (AST) from March 26-April 1 in Mannheim, Germany.
Nine members of the current Centre of Excellence squad are included with the team rounded out by Samuel Short from Victoria as well as Isaac White and Jacob Rigoni from South Australia.
12 countries will compete in the 2016 AST which is restricted to players who were born in or after 1998.
“It’s a uniqie development opportunity for the entire team and we are taking a squad of potential future Boomers,” said Australian coach Adam Caporn.
“Although some of the team played in the Under-17 Oceania Championship, this is their first foray overseas into an international basketball tournament which is a powerful and unique prospect.
“[The AST] is regarded as almost as strong a tournament as the World Championships as it features some of the best teams in Europe, the Americas as well as China. It is a high level and prestigious tournament that we are excited to be taking a part in.”
Previous Australian representatives at the AST include Matthew Dellavedova, Andrew Bogut, Patty Mills and David Andersen while well known players such as Magic Johnson, Kevin Garnett, Tim Duncan, Dirk Nowitzki and Tony Parker have also attended.
Australia have a history of success at the competition, taking out the title in 2010 while they also won a silver medal in 1998 and bronze medals in 2008 and 1994.
Three training sessions and three practice games against France and German sides PSK Karlsruhe and SG Mannheim will help the team prepare before the tournament begins on March 26.
They will face Serbia on March 27 at 12.00am, Japan on March 28 at 2.15am, Argentina on March 29 at 2.15am, Turkey on March 31 at 2.45am and Germany on April 1 at 5.00am before the finals are held on Saturday, April 2.
“For a lot of teams, it is also their first taste of the world stage. We have done scouts of the competition but our focus, as always, is on our own team and our preparation.”
The full schedule and results throughout the competition can be found here.
The Australian team for the Albert Schweitzer Tournament:
Mate Colina (Vic), Callum Dalton (QLD), Andrew Ferguson (WA), Samson Froling (QLD), Tom Fullarton (QLD), Matthew Kenyon (NSW), Will Magnay (QLD), Lat Mayen (SA), Jacob Rigoni (SA), Samuel Short (Vic), Isaac White (SA), Kyle Zunic (NSW).
In the spirit of reconciliation Basketball Australia acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of country throughout Australia and their connections to land, sea and community. We pay our respect to their Elders past and present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples today.