Duinker makes national junior hoops team

BY JOHN DECOSTE

jdecoste@kentvilleadvertiser.ca

NovaNewsNow.com

The Duinker home in Cambridge was a happy place last week when it was announced that younger daughter Abbey was among 12 athletes named to Canada Basketball’s junior national women’s basketball squad.

Abbey, who spent the 2008-2009 school year attending the National Elite Development Academy (NEDA) in Hamilton, Ont., is one of seven NEDA players named to the team and one of two Nova Scotians. Justine Colley of East Preston is the other.

Abbey and Justine were members of the 2007 Nova Scotia provincial U-17 girls’ team that won a bronze medal at the national championships.

The national junior team was selected following a tryout camp. “We had a great tryout. All the girls from the invitational and open sessions all competed like crazy,” the team’s head coach Rich Chambers said in a press release.

“The choices were extremely tough,” he said. “We’re very proud of the competitive spirit and nature of all the girls who tried out. None of the girls had egos; they were all there for each other even though they were competing.”

The junior women trained at Georgian College in Barrie, Ont. along with the national senior women’s team before leaving this past Sunday to compete in the FIBA Americas U-18 championship set for July 23-27 in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

That competition will see Canada play against national junior teams from Brazil, the United States, Puerto Rico, Venezuela and the host country of Argentina.

The top four finishers in the Americas competition will qualify automatically for the FIBA World U-19 Championship for Women July 23 to Aug. 2, 2009 in Thailand.

The last Canadian junior women’s national team placed second in the 2006 Americas tournament and followed that up with a ninth-place finish at the world championships. The 2008 team will attempt to better that result. “We play tough teams in all our games,” Chambers said of the qualifier. “Hopefully, if we continue to improve, we’ll be in a great frame of mind and be able to battle everyone we play.”