Leeton's representative basketball stars go from strength-to-strength

Those are the words of Leeton's Adam O'Callaghan, a former basketball player himself, but now head coach of several sides, including at the Southern Sports Academy.

O'Callaghan was commenting specifically on the future of basketball in Leeton and the high calibre of players coming through.

Basketball has grown in popularity in Leeton shire in recent years, with several players starting to make their mark on the big stage.

At the moment, some of those include Bree Gillespie, Josephine Irvin, Solomon Liu, Jez Lashbrook, Xavier Chilko, Amelia Irvin, Kobe O'Callaghan, Tallis McMillian, Ethan McDonald and Madeline Irvin who were all selected in their respective age divisions to represent with the Southern Sports Academy.

Bree, Solomon, Amelia and Kobe were also selected at high performance trials to represent NSW Country Basketball at D-League, which was held in Sydney last month.

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Leeton's Cody Browne was also chosen as a Basketball NSW referee for this competition.

The shire's Western Junior League representative teams are also performing well.

"Leeton's 12s and 14s age groups in Western Junior League alone haven't lost a game, so they are definitely the benchmark ... that's a good foundation for what the Leeton association has put in place in terms of exposing these kids to higher level representation," O'Callaghan said.

"I would be expecting in the next couple of years that Leeton will have several state players in the mix once they get to that under 16s level. It's a very promising future."

Those Leeton players selected in the academy have a busy time ahead, including a training session this weekend with their respective sides, followed by the Academy Games on April 9, 10 and 11.

"We'll be looking to select our 14s and 16s teams for those teams very soon to represent at those games," O'Callaghan said.

"All age groups are looking good. Under 18s don't play at the games, but we are working to get them some matches are well.

"As far as our other sides go, we'll be very competitive."

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