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The Australian Gliders have named their squad to host the USA women’s wheelchair basketball team over a six-game international series, which will double as a selection camp for the 2019 Electric Cup in Tokyo, Japan, at Basketball Australia’s Centre of Excellence from 28 June – 5 July.
Annabelle Lindsay will back up from a very strong performance at the 2019 IWBF Women’s U25 Wheelchair Basketball World Championships in Suphan Buri, Thailand, where she helped the Australian Devils claim a silver medal by finishing as the tournament’s leading scorer, sitting in the top 10 for rebounds and earning a spot in the All-Star Five.
In addition to Lindsay, the Gliders will be looking to high-point players Georgia Munro-Cook, Teisha Shadwell and Amber Merritt to provide more opportunities offensively, while mid-point players Maryanne Latu, Georgia Inglis and Shelley Cronau will add flexibility to the line-ups.
Since finishing sixth at the 2018 IWBF Wheelchair Basketball World Championships in Hamburg, Germany, the USA have had an injection of experienced Paralympic campaigners in Rebecca Murray, Natalie Schneider, Megan Blunk and Darlene Hunter.
They are also coming off a gold medal at the 2019 IWBF Women’s U25 Wheelchair Basketball World Championships, and will be bringing their strongest possible line-up to take on the Gliders.
“This is a great opportunity for our Gliders to go up against one of the best teams in the world,” said Head Coach David Gould.
“USA will provide great competition which will give the Gliders opportunities to continue to work on our game style and structures.
“We will use this nine-day training camp [beginning 26 June] and international series to work on different combinations, and I’m really excited to have the whole squad together, including some overseas players fighting for selection.
“We will take a lot of learnings from the games against the USA, which will also assist us with preparing and developing the group for the AOZ [Asia and Oceania Zone] Qualifiers ahead of the Tokyo 2020 Paralympics.”
During the series, Australia and the USA will also split their squads into four teams to compete in the first 3×3 international wheelchair basketball tournament for either country.
| Australian Gliders squad for international series v USA | ||
| Name | Classification | State |
| Annabelle Lindsay | 4.5 | ACT |
| Amber Merritt | 4.5 | WA |
| Georgia Munro-Cook | 4.5 | NSW |
| Teisha Shadwell | 4.5 | VIC |
| Georgia Bishop-Cash | 4.0 | QLD |
| Jess Cronje | 4.0 | NSW |
| Bree Mellberg | 3.5 | VIC |
| Natalie Alexander | 2.5 | WA |
| Shelley Cronau | 2.5 | QLD |
| Georgia Inglis | 2.5 | WA |
| Maryanne Latu | 2.5 | NSW |
| Hannah Dodd | 1.0 | NSW |
| Mary Friday | 1.0 | WA |
| Isabel Martin | 1.0 | VIC |
| Taishar Ovens | 1.0 | WA |
| Ella Sabljak | 1.0 | QLD |
| Sarah Vinci | 1.0 | WA |
| Australian Gliders staff for international series v USA | ||
| Name | Role | State |
| David Gould | Head Coach | SA |
| Craig Campbell | Assistant Technical Coach | VIC |
| Stephen Charlton | Assistant Coach | WA |
| Sarah Graham | Assistant Coach | NSW |
| Kris Thiesfield | Strength and Conditioning Coach | QLD |
| Chloe Manuel | Physiotherapist | VIC |
| Anna Rich | Physiotherapist | VIC |
| Cathy Lambert | Team Manager | SA |
| Murray Treseder | Program Lead | WA |
| Michael Speranza | Strength and Conditioning Program Lead | ACT |
| Karen Haddad | Performance Psychologist | NSW |
| Steph Shell | Recovery | ACT |
| Australian Gliders schedule for international series v USA | ||
| Date | Time (AEST) | Game |
| 28 June | 14:00 | Game 1 v USA |
| 29 June | 10:00 | Game 2 v USA |
| 30 June | 14:30 | Game 3 v USA |
| 1 July | 15:00 | Game 4 v USA |
| 2 July | 09:15 | 3×3 international series v USA |
| 3 July | 10:00 | Game 5 v USA |
| 4 July | 09:00 | Game 6 v USA |
By Basketball Australia
Posted: 26/06/2019
Photo with thanks to MSSP Michael Schwartz, Uli Gasper
