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It’s a brave coach that heads across the Tasman, confident of success at an Australian national age group tournament, so Aik Ho is wisely guarded about the prospects of his NZ U16 Women.

“We’re excited,” he says. “Quietly confident … not over confident.”

“We’ve probably had one of the best build-ups an age group team has ever had for one of these trips. We’ve put a lot of time and energy into it … we certainly couldn’t have asked for more.”

His modest goal is to better New Zealand’s 12th-place finish at the same event last year.

But last week, Ho and his assistant – former Harbour Breeze coach Brett Goebel – guided these youngsters to a 2-3 record, including wins over Hutt Valley and Waikato Cougars, at the Women’s Basketball Championship opening round in New Plymouth.

They arrived in Brisbane early for the Australian U16 Championships, and will have well and truly acclimatized by the time they face defending champions Victoria Metro in their tournament opener on Saturday.

After a bye on Day Two, the Kiwis then face 2009 runners-up South Australian Country …

“You couldn’t ask for a better draw,” observes Ho dryly. “But playing in the WBC was good preparation for this.

“These girls have got an exciting future. We’re trying to put in a new culture for women’s basketball in New Zealand and this team will be the start of it.”

Ho is depending on forwards Penina Davidson (Waitakere) and Deena Franklin (North Harbour) for double doubles to keep their team in contention.

“In the guards, Stella Beck from Hutt Valley is someone who probably wasn’t in our sights when we started this campaign, but has just this week earned promotion to the starting five with her hustle play.”

Meanwhile, NZ U16 Men’s coach Seth Weakley has a chance to build up the sixth placing achieved by him and his team last year. They open against wooden spooners Northern Territory and also draw the bye on Sunday.

Both Kiwi teams are at the start of an extended build-up towards the 2011 U17 Oceania Championships, a world championship qualifying series against the Australians.

Australian U16 State Championships

Logan, Queensland

Men

Pool B
Saturday, July 3
3pm
NZ v Northern Territory

Sunday, July 4
Bye

Monday, July 5
11.30am
West Australia Metro v NZ

Tuesday, July 6
9am
South Australia Country v NZ

5pm
Victoria Country v NZ

Wednesday, July 7
3pm
NZ v Queensland South

Thursday, July 8
11am
NZ v New South Wales Metro

Women

Pool A
Saturday, July 3
1pm
Victoria Metro v NZ

Sunday, July 4
Bye

Monday, July 5
9am
South Australia Country v NZ

5pm
NZ v West Australia Metro

Tuesday, July 6
3pm
NZ v Queensland North

Wednesday, July 7
1.30pm
Northern Territory v NZ

Thursday, July 8
9am
New South Wales Country v NZ