yeah sorry my bad should have said u17s 2015/16

watchout for the Francis twins!! mark this spot.

This age group won't do u17s, they'll do u19s in a few years time. Next year's u16s Nationals will be more of a measuring stick for u17s in 2016,

Talls that big at u17s are not as valuable as one might think. When the u17 girls went to Amsterdam for the World Champs last year, they were a much better team when they had the Frolings and Smith playing as their bigs because they were more mobile. They were strong enough and tough enough to play the 5 defensively and skilled enough to either take a smaller opponent in the post or beat a bigger opponent off the dribble.

Pretty much only USA had huge girls the size your talking about that were actually effective.

My bottom age U16 daughter is 6'3" and still growing. She's developing well but not ready for nationals yet.

great to hear - find a good club and get some good individual trainings.

Thanks Watson - she has a mentor who is taking an interest in her. Hoping for a BNSW NITP spot but believe they are hard to get.

I find that Netball is a huge competitor to hoops and there is a big chance these 190+ girls are running around outdoors playing that game in stead of Basketball.

At least it appears to be the case in our town because Netball has formed a close affiliation with Football which dominates the sporting landscape...

Tough to keep them or move them from Netball, plenty of tall athletic types, just not all playing hoops, what ya' gonna do??

I agree Bear. I think hoops could do a recruitment drive on Netball especially as the kids get a bit older. My daughter started playing Netball at 7 or 8 like all her friends. We pushed her to Basketball 2 years ago so she could meet other tall kids, boys and girls to help her self esteem. It has been the best thing for her and she is loving the game, but the fact is she found Basketball rather than Basketball finding her.

Must admit, I rarely hear of basketball poaching or targeting players from other codes, rather the exact opposite.

I see it this way:

Basketball is probably one of the highest skill sport there is in degree of difficulty (team sports I am referring to), because unless you start at a young age and develop that ball handling skill with eyes up, you can't go to the elite level and that is too hard to teach older kids in the view of most coaches.

Throw in all the technical stuff, different shooting positions, angles, defense etc, etc... And you probably get the idea!

Conversely our kids learn many valuable skills and show great aptitude for other sports which they can adapt to with less of a requirement to learn very difficult skills like you need to in hoops.

The result (broadly speaking of course), is that many codes love to pick up an athletic hooper with great vision, the ability to catch and have good hand-eye coordination, excellent reflexes and fitness that they can adapt to their sport, it is an attractive proposition to them, not so easy the other way around IMO...

Agree
Regarding talls specifically, netball players can catch and are athletic which is a good start. My daughter has had to work hard on her D and is developing her other skills. My point is being 6'3" and 85kg, hoops is definitely her game but no one came looking for her...

we found that several good netball coaches were telling their girls to play basketball as it gave them stronger skills / determination / physical attributes.

several did do that - but bar a few exceptional players always played basketball like netball and although great athletes - were only mid to lower division players.

another point was when there was a scheduling clash - they usually chose netball.

however the good netball clubs / coaches are still recommending getting some basketball in.

Bit out of left field - but would a switched on basketball club associate with a strong netball club ? Could the collingwood and richmond cheer squads ever sit next to each other ?

Never heard of any progressive thinking from Netball coaches like that where we are, but makes sense.
Agree with some Netball players playing basketball like netball, can spot it a mile off.
This year my daughter is playing Div1, selected for U15 TAP camp, selected for D-league, trialing next month for ECC, and waiting to hear regarding NITP so decent players are out there playing Netball...
Basketball could have picked her up earlier if proactive recruitment was happening but i guess that is left to each individual association.
Once they are playing, the ones that are more suited to Basketball will chose it

just wait and see what the yanks roll up with

Good to hear some talented talls in VIC NITP.
We are waiting to hear regarding NSW NITP...How manu places are offered?

Thanks.
So is that 100 in total? Assuming equal splits
approx 50 boys / 50 girls
approx 12 of each per year group (13-17 year olds)
approx 6 of each from metro and 6 from country

That really is only the elite isn't it...

Looks like the national U17 girls team will have some tall talent to choose from in the next few years. And I thought my 14yr old was tall...