The selection process is that whining, whinging parents and their spoilt children do not represent their country. For a summary of what they are looking for, call Carrie Graf, the Opals coach, and ask for her run down on the Opals culture titled "A We Group".

Here is a short extract:

A "WE" group.

Attitudes can be developed just like physical skills. The Australian team will be comprised of "we" people rather than "I" people.

A "we" group is characterized by affection, mutual respect, self-sacrifice and the absence of blame.
Players who see themselves as superior, those that allocate blame to their team-mates or are jealous of team mates do not have the attitude to play on this team."

What are you on about?

Well said Giraffe!!

What exactly are u trying to acheive from this post 'anon'? And what do you mean by 'the usual suprises'?

The AIS tour is about exposing the athletes to international competition, as well as travelling and living with each other on the road.

The tour you are talking about is to France in May and the team will be playing in a tournament and also some extra games. You will find that the team will probably be made up of players that are vying for selection into the Australian under 19 Emus to play at the Worlds. The majority of the team will be made up of AIS players plus a few others that are in the mix for the Emus.

You'll have to enlighten us on what you mean by "the usual suprises appear again"????

Anon is referring to the AIS tour to Italy and France (girls) that departs tomorrow I would imagine. And yes the reason for the tour is to play internationally against potential opponents at the World Championships and also get sense of life on the road as mentioned by Mary.

Also well spoken Giraffe! Let's hope they have a successful tour!

Well there is at least 1 SA girl (maybe more) that I know of that is going; she plays U18 for Forestville. All I know is that she was on the last tour ....Guam??? Don't know the spelling.

Sorry I cant think of her name...Gemma, Georgia, something like that.

Minear

Sounds right. She did go on the last tour.

Unfortunately she missed out on Sydney Y Olympics and was very upset..........talk over here was she was ready to quit after U18??? How many bottom ages went??

Did Seekamp go??

Any results from tour??

2 losses by around 9 and 1 win by around 30

They have lost one by 4, one by 9 and won one by 30.
Try and get your facts right if you are going to comment!!

229545 Yes it is actually they are playing division 1 teams with Opals in them and they are having a good crack playing in a league that is reffed differently and played differently from Aus which is what it is all about. So how well did you go in the Euro league?

Girls doing well but we dont have enough strong, physical kids!

R u joking. They picked the best kids available in Aus. Maybe yr kid missed! Maybe not good enough!. Get yr blinkers off and hav a real good look. These kids are the future of Aus basketball. One just got named in opals squad. How can either of u say they are not strong and physical or only hav names.

I'm so over hearing that only the 'chosen ones' or only the 'names' get picked. Nobody will ever agree on these sorts of things and the turnover of kids through these groups is enormous over the course of the selection process.

It's become my philosophy (after watching lots of developing players over a number of years) that a players success is often determined not by the teams they make, but by how they respond to the teams they miss out on.

I've picked plenty of teams and been happy with the group I've picked at the time, only to feel, by the end of the season or the tournament or whatever - 'What was I thinking?'. It happens - selectors/coaches make mistakes.

I'll say it again - I have never come across a single coach who has picked a group based on anything other than what they feel is the best group. If you don't agree, that's fine, but don't assume they are doing it in any other way than on their perception of the merits of the particular kids. That's their job, they have earned that responsibility, it's often their job on the line.

Now after that little rant - can anybody point me to the group that actually traveled? I can't seem to find a list and don't want to wait for the complete set of travel diaries on the BA website to work out who went and who didn't!

Some 'name' kids injured.........couple that went they just 'persist' with........

Those three girls can play. Gaze, smart basketball brain, shooter and leader. Moult, fantastic defensive player, has size and strength. Harrington, up tempo point guard, great defense, can lead the team and is a legitimate scoring threat.

They are not "name" players.