NEWS
Under 18 National Championships
SA Metro teams comprised entirely of SASI Scholarship and Associates Scholarship Athletes and recently travelled to Ulverstone, Tasmania for the 2011 U18 National Championships.
The boys went through the major round with just one defeat to a very strong NSW Metro team that was the eventual championship winner and finished second on their pool. Unfortunately their generally good shooting let them down in the semi-final and they lost to Vic. Metro. However they bounced back in the bronze medal playoff against a much taller Queensland South team and they returned home with Bronze medals after an emphatic 25 point win in that game. Starters Joel Spear, Sam Daly, Sam Johns, Ryan Clarke and Tom Snyder all had a consistent week and received very good support off the bench from Patrick Thomas, Matt Long, Hamish Burns, Cohen Creeper and Max Wellington. SASI Network Coach Michael Chrisan was Head Coach of the team, his first year in that role.
The SA Metro girls managed to go one better. They went through the minor round undefeated and that included a solid win against the consistently high rated Victoria Metro team. In their semi-final they smashed Victoria Country, leading by as much as 30 points at one stage. In the final playoff they went into the half-time break with a 10 point lead and things looking quite good. Unfortunately our leading scorer to half-time, Alex Ciabattoni (13 pts) had receive a blow to the head just before half time. Her absence in the second half eventually had an unsettling effect on the team, the lead wilted and we had to settle for the Silver. However the whole team, comprising Amy Shaw, Ashleigh Bow, April Brown, Danielle Angley, Jess Good, Megan Pritchard, Jasmine Trimboli, Ashley Fitzpatrick and Tayla Falting as well as Alex can all be proud of their efforts throughout the week. The most telling statistic for them for the week was forced turnovers, which averaged out at 32 per game and was roughly double what would normally be expected.
The SA Country teams did not fare as well but SASI Scholarship holders Stephanie Talbot and Alex Wilson were very prominent, leading the scoring for the championship with an average of 21.1 and 24.0 points per game respectively.
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HEAD
COACH
Neil Gliddon
Neil Gliddon has been the Head Basketball Coach at SASI for just over 15 years, having commenced in February 1991.
The position here involves development work with talented 15 to 17 year old boys and girls. The SASI program is linked to Basketball Australia's National Intensive Training Centre Program, and is a major pathway into both the basketball program at the AIS and the National Junior Teams program.
Prior to joining SASI as a full-time coach Neil was involved in coaching and administration at club level in South Australia for over 20 years, all at the Sturt Basketball Club. During that period he had experience and sustained success in all junior age groups and also coached at senior level for several years. He is also an experienced Junior Coaching Director at club level, a position in some ways not dissimilar to his present role. He also coached a number of junior state teams.
Since commencing at SASI 'bench' coaching has been very limited. He had one season at senior SEABL level in 1995 where his team reached both their conference final and national final. He has also had two part seasons where he filled in at Under 18 level at Norwood and Eastern Mavericks. Both groups had SASI squad members and achieved success in finals during his brief time with them.
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PROGRAM
OVERVIEW
The SASI basketball program is a development
program providing a nationally coordinated training
environment for elite and emerging 14-17 years old athletes.
It aims to develop South Australian athletes for AIS
programs, national junior programs and for international
competition. The program caters for regional athletes
through a strong satellite programs.
It is a part of a well developed and highly regarded
national training centre network.
The program's long term aim is to provide athletes with
the ability to perform in Australian junior and senior
teams. Its secondary function is to provide excellent
basketball education to athletes who will perform in
state representative teams and the Adelaide men and
women's teams in the national leagues.
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