06 Apr WBA Next Gen Set to Shine at National Champs
The future stars of the WBA are set to shine in Queensland this week at the 2025 U18 & National Junior Wheelchair Championships. While the under 18s able-bodied competition tipped off yesterday, our wheelchair basketballers take to the court from Wednesday with five states set to compete for the Kevin Coombs Cup.
The tournament will feature Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia and defending champions, Western Australia and while all players are on the pathway to the NWBL and WNWBL, 31 of the 47 players suiting up this week will be on WBA rosters later this year.
Hosts Queensland will feature Braydon Packer (Titans), Mitch Duncan (Titans), Zac Uhr (Titans), Zach Binns (Spartans), and Gold Coast Rollers Maddie Kelton, Gorja Ebert and Sarah King.
New South Wales features Jackson Gray, Ethan Hallak, Tallow Ra, Rafferty Stevens and Victoria Simpson under the guidance of Manly Wheel Eagles coach Rohan Foy.
Victoria, which returns to the women’s league in 2025 will feature Laura Davoli, Harriet Caldwell and Remy Grogan as well as Red Dust Heeler Mitch Bond. Bond made an impact in his rookie year of national league, winning Best First Year Player. Rhys Higgins and Jack Thomas are also part of the Victorian team and might well use the tournament to get acclimatise to their Queensland surroundings with the pair set to link with the Southern Districts Spartans for a national league opportunity.
South Australia returns to the championship after not fielding a team in 2024. Their lineup includes Red Dust Heeler Kane Downie, Sydney Blues low pointer Katelin Gunn, Darwin Salties’ Alexander Blackmore, Perth Wheelcat Cooper Spillane and Isobella Nitschke who played NWBL last season for Adelaide and will feature in the city’s new women’s team in 2025. Brooke Joppich and Ellie McInerney will also line up as rookies in the new Thunder women’s team.
South Australia is coached by renowned wheelchair basketball player and coach, David Gould.
Western Australia boasts Wheelcats Ebony Stevenson, Jordan Mouritz, Natt Hongsri, Joel Swadling and Michael McDonald as well as Darwin Saltie Weston Tedcastle who will once again link with the Black Ducks.
Stevenson was named the WNWBL’s Best First Year Player in 2024 as well as a 3.0-3.5 MVP and All Star 5.
The tournament has been running since 2007 and has been part of the pathway for many of our elite players. More recently, current Rollers Tom O’Neill-Thorne, Eithen Leard, Jaylen Brown, Tom McHugh and Frank Pinder all played KCC.
On the women’s side, Georgia Munro-Cook, Jess Cronje, Taishar Ovens, Georgia Inglis and Isabel Martin are just some of the current Gliders who came through the KCC pathway.
The age group for the National Junior Wheelchair Championships are based on international junior wheelchair basketball age groups, Under-23 for Males and Under-25 for Females.
Each team will play each other once starting with South Australia vs Queensland on Wednesday with the top four advancing to the semifinals on Saturday, before the Gold and Bronze Medal games on Sunday.
Games will be played at Moreton Bay’s South Pine Sports Complex and streamed via subscription service Kommunity TV.
For full fixtures & results CLICK HERE