Basketball Australia would like to announce on behalf of the Centre of Excellence (CoE) the most recent group of athletes to receive scholarships for 2020 and 2021.
The CoE program brings together the best young players from around Australia to live and train together in a high-performance daily training environment with the assistance of elite coaches. The CoE Women will welcome two new scholarship athletes in Nyadiew Pouch and Isobel Borlase from Victoria and South Australia respectively. Pending government approval, Nyadiew will join the program in term 4 and Isobel in late January when the program starts up in 2021. Additionally, we’re excited to announce that all five of our Yr12 scholarship athletes (due to graduate at the end of 2020) have accepted extensions to their scholarships; that will now see them graduate from the program in June/July 2021. With basketball the only focus, it is hoped that this investment will see these athletes ready for the challenges of representative duties with the Gems and prepare them for their college careers. "Despite these uncertain and challenging times for many, we are fortunate to be able to provide two very promising athlete’s the amazing opportunity of a Centre of Excellence scholarship at the world-renowned Australian Institute of Sport," says Basketball Australia Centre of Excellence Women’s Head Coach, Kristen Veal. "Through extensive talent identification pre-COVID, we are excited about Nyadiew and Isobel’s international athleticism, skill sets and enthusiasm for the game which have clearly shown through in their High Performance Programs, at National Championships and Australian Camps. We believe they will embrace and excel in the daily training environment. We look forward to both young ladies joining the current cohort and believe they will be great additions to the group and program. For Isobel that will be at the start of 2021 and for Nyadiew her start date is pending due to the current COVID situation in Victoria." New Scholarship Athlete - 2020 - Nyadiew Pouch – Victoria (will start when given the approval to travel from Victoria – estimating term 4) New Scholarship Athlete – 2021 - Isobel Borlase – South Australia (Term 1, 2021)
6 Month Extension Scholarship Athletes – 2021 - Jade Melbourne – Victoria - Olivia Pollerd – Victoria - Emily Sewell – Victoria - Ruby MacDonald – New South Wales - Millie Prior – New South Wales Continuing Scholarship Athletes – 2021 - Lauren Wise – Tasmania - Katie Deeble – Queensland - Charlise Dunn – Victoria - Chyra Evans – New South Wales - Alana Goodchild – New South Wales - Shaneice Swain (NBA GA) – Queensland
