Basketball New Zealand

Junior Tall Black logo

The Junior Tall Blacks will make their second appearance at the prestigious Albert Schweitzer Tournament in Germany as part of their preparation for next year’s FIBA U19 Oceania Championships.

Some of the world’s best basketball nations, including eight of the top 10 from this year’s FIBA U19 World Championship for Men in Auckland, will field teams at the event in Mannheim, April 3-10.

New Zealand first attended the tournament, named after the Nobel Prize-winning philosopher, last year, recording their only win against Israel and finishing 14th of 16 teams.

But the experience of playing teams like Spain, Argentina, Croatia, France and Russia served them well at the world championships. After losing by 17 and 28 points respectively at the Schweitzer 15 months earlier, the Junior Tall Blacks came within a basket of upsetting Argentina in their WC pool opener and fell eight points short of victory over eventual bronze medalists Croatia.

None of this year’s JTB team will return, but the class of 2010, coached by Porirua’s Deslea Wrathall, will include players from the 2009 NZ U18 programme.

“International competition is a critical element in any athlete’s preparation,” confirmed Wrathall. “It is not until they play against their peers on the international stage that young athletes start to understand the training, skill development, commitment and work that needs to go into becoming an elite athlete.”

The U18s have already been exposed to that quality of competition at this year’s Australian Youth Olympic Festival and the Villagarcia Basket Cup in Spain.

“Both the AYOF and Spain trips showed these young athletes what they need to aspire to, and gave them the knowledge and belief that, with hard work, they will be able to get to this level.

“Securing a bronze medal at the AYOF was an important step in these athletes’ growth as they started to realise that New Zealand can compete internationally.”

Both the Junior Tall Blacks and the Junior Tall Ferns face Australia at the 2010 FIBA Oceania Championships in Palmerston North, hoping to qualify for the next U19 world championships.

Basketball New Zealand will also seek appropriate international tournament preparation for the JTFs.