most do well around div 1 or 2 - as with any group a few make it to the elite level - ie angela marino

the big ask is when they start around u12 grade maintaining the commitment to play div 1 district with training

there is near country and country country - ie murray bridge, victor barossa, balaklava is hardly "country" now days

riverland, lower yorke, iron triangle, upper lower south east are the big commuters

anything more than 2 country kids per team is a big ask - depending on how they train

my observations are there are definite div 1 allstars out there - however most country local comps are around div 3-4 metro level

some of the top teams have brilliant individuals that can succeed at the highest levels - however - due to the smaller populus it drops away quick

a interesting point is that a lot of country kids learn to play senior ball quicker - often due to numbers you have u14s playing with the adults

if a family is deicated and the kid keen - let them come - you never know

they gotta earn their stripes like anyone else.

bizzarely my kids have made way many times for country kids in u12 and 14s - now where are they ??

gone - playing footy or not interested - and my kids have missed out on 2-4 years of regular div 1 games

on the other hand some have stayed and go to boarding school now and they are doing well

but if you get the opportunities - you are bound to improve

anon - i agree that a div one spot shouldn't be given based on travel but on ability, however i think that is a club specific issue, and only a handful of club have an unwritten policy of 'cradling' the country kids through.

Where is the country boundries??

The country associations have provided some star players, but do lack the depth simply due to numbers.

i hope they are up to standards cus the way they talk themselves up they sure are...they are some exceptions but in general it is a problem

give em a fair go pleae

nah man im from the country aswell, no disrespect but i know a few players who travel up sometimes and the truth is they are ordinary in our local league..but good luck for them i say..as long as they back up what they say

a lot of country areas only play summer - how can a kid from the country just play local comp over summer, hardly train with their district club over summer / winter - then front for a div 1 winter season ???

they can't - there is one club that is finding they have too many country players in an age group at present - see if you can guess?

Seems to me like a lot of sour grapes going on here.

What is the difference betweena country kid and a city kid really.

Mid week country kids train with their ITC program. While local kids train with their team. Both are doing training.

I guess that some parents just cant see the truth through their rose coloured glasses. And only about 1% of all players that come through a club go onto ABA level ball or above anyway and these are usually the athletically gifted and those that do the best job of dealing with adversity. So that all those who want to complain. You and your kid would be better off just working harder.

I understand that some country kids are taking the spots of Metro kids, but we worked hard to earn our spot in that DIV 1 team. We attended all the training sessions and committed to all functions that the club had. We had to travel quite a distance to and from home to commit to playing in Adelaide. I would beleive thatmore than 1% of country kids made it through to ABA squads. THere have been quite a few over the past 5 or so years. If country kids are good enough, gotta give them a go!

Wheoever thinks country kids dont derserve their spot in div 1 and 2 teans are kidding theirselves, the commitment and sacrifice as well as financial constraints these counrty kids have to make to play in Adelaide is enormous and i would love to see city kids travel 3 hours to to make a training on a sunday morning!
Speaking from personal experince i had to make a 6 hour round trip twice a week to enable me to play at a higher level, thats a huge commitment consider other factors like schooling and casual employment need to be considered.
If kids in the counrty had received the same type of coaching as city kids have, there would be a lot more kids in country areas that could realise their potential, and if this happened there would be a lot more country kids playing and dominating div 1 competitions.

Totally agree, since I did the same to play in Adelaide

I know there are a few Victorian people who read and contribute here, wondering what is the situation with the country kids from your state. Do they make the same sort of sacrifices as the kids do here? Do they travel to the city each week to play? How far out do they come from?

Victorians both metro and country can travel anything from 1 to 6 hours for a game on a friday night. They do make the same scarifices but so do metro players.

Frankly, who cares if they are country or metro?

All that matters is that the player with the most talent should get the spot.

If it comes down to two players, go for the one with the more talent or has the potential talent! Forget about metro and country making a difference!

I agree with Matt. As long as the senior program is going well, who cares about the juniors. Good juniors will always go to the clubs with a good senior program.

Dedent clubs won't take country kids to play Div 1 if they are no good- its as simple as that. They must be pretty good or have some potential to be playing div 1 in Adelaide.
And we actually do lots of training: we play local comp twice a week, train for our town teams and our ITC program, with lots of little extra thing on the side. We also make so many sacrifices to play a better standard of basketball. Leaving early on Friday before school finishes and spending the weekend in a small unit or hotel room isn't that comfortable- but we do it so we can play. Plus the financial side of it isn't that easy either when you take into account petrol, accommodation and food.
Please give country kids a break- you have no idea what they go through and without playing in the div 1 comp, they would only be getting one game a week in their local comp which are usually blow-outs and the only thing we get to practise is doing open court lay-ups.
You guys have plenty more opportunities up there so please don't bitch just cos we want to improve our game.

anon - victor, m barker, barossa and m bridge is hardly country now days

only on paper

was at MARS tonight, and did see forestville u-18 Boys play anon, but was more impressed with the u-16B game beforehand. norwood v Forestville, 4 players from the south-east playing, two from millicent and two from Mount Gambier, now thats commitment. u-18 girls game also had a handful of country kids (3-4) by my count.

now that is country kids 4 sure

Dunkenstein, how did the millicent and mount gambier players go? Who was playing? Im from the mount, how did Jed and Warrick go?

Dmac, rare23air was also present at MARS!

Both Jed and Warrick had respectable games, Forrestville jumped out early going 15-1 in the first and Norwood could not catch them!

Sam Thompson and Tim Ditcham were the Millicent boys to line up! Sam had a top game and Tim contributed to a strong Forrestvile side!

Shannon Seebohn and Fergus Hamilton also lined up for the Forrestvile 18's!

As I said, and as ppl have agreed: Who cares if they are metro or country? If they've got the talent then they shouldn't be denied the spot! What about kids from Adelaide wanting to play for Mavs - should they be told to go away cos they are Metro?

Forget politics....look at the talent!

DMac - Rare23air got the game pretty well covered, both big guys (warrick and tim) were solid contributors, and jed played a very mature game, nothing flashy, but solid! Sam worked hard, but wasn't well supported. Had to do most of ball carrying duties.

does anyone know how an X country kid is performing in sturt under 18s? his name is Alex Buck and he is about 6'5 or so, playing in their div ones? is he up to standard?? does he hold his own?

What do u think? of jess hansberry she to had to traval 6 hours to get to play up here for nourth now she is probly the best point gaurd in 16 girls div1.

if most you guys think that country kids dont deserve to be in div 1 hen send them to mavs and see who gets their butts kicked cos if mavs had some country kids that were playing for north forrestvill so on then they would be at the top of the ladder.
im from north u16gs and i have relized that if mavs had a good point guard then they would be dominating with tess madegn and tier pointguard.
ive played with tess and know what its like.

most people that bag country kids playin metro are seriously potentious parents of average metro junior ballers!! let me tell you, you metro people do not own sa ball!! you might say that they do not trainas much with their respective teams, fair enuff. but that is a geographical issue. i can guarantee that majority of them train their arses off in their local associations and make extraordinary efforts to make it to adelaide to play and train every week with their distridct clubs. i say get your heads out of your arse and respect the talent and determination of good country kids and if your kid misses out due to a country kid then look at ways to get better. sum of you have no f@!*ing idea its depressing to think that your kids are the ones that suffer!!!!