AUSTRALIAN BASKETBALL TEAM MADE POINTS
\VHEN the New Zealand Basketball Association invited the Australian Basketball Association to send a team to New Zealand, its main aims were to enable as many players as possible throughout the country, to see another national team in action, and to give local teams the chance to participate in first-class matches.
The recent visit of the Australian team, which arrived in New Zealand on May 30 and left last Sunday, achieved these aims very successfully. The team played 11 matches, and won nine of them. It was defeated by Rotorua 36-30, and by Canterbury 4440.
Generally when New Zealand sends a team overseas, or an overseas team comes here, only 10 or 12 of the best players in the country really benefit from the experience. On this tour however, the idea was to give all first-grade tournament teams the chance to play the Australian team. Local teams gained a great deal by this, for they found themselves up against an entirely different style of play. The Australian team played a strong, vital game, with superb ball handling, goal shooting and general court techniques—all of which
could easily be adapted to good effect for local games. Australia’s most used pass, the short hard shoulder pass, could effectively be employed in local games, and its method of conserving effort, moving into a pass only when it was ready, could also be emulated.
Most impressive was the Australian players’ complete command of the situation when there was a tied ball, and the use made of the whole team, with each girl moving at the right time.
Canterbury’s display against Australia showed that the home team was capable of first class play. For this match the Canterbury players extended themselves fully, with players at goal and defence playing particularly strongly. The Australian visit, then, has shown teams their weaknesses. However, particularly on the part of the winning local teams, it has shown what is possible when they are fully extended against a strong and highly competent overseas opponent
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Press, Issue 31095, 25 June 1966, Page 11
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339AUSTRALIAN BASKETBALL TEAM MADE POINTS Press, Issue 31095, 25 June 1966, Page 11
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