Sydney Uni Flames Academy Program representative Vanessa Panousis will tonight play for the Under 17 Australian women’s basketball team, in Holland, at the 2012 U17 Women’s World Championships.
Panousis is the only NSW representative in the Australian team.
Back in 2010 the Southern Design Sydney Uni Flames launched the Flames Academy Program as part of the club’s ongoing commitment to developing elite young NSW female athletes.
With the support of Sydney Uni Sport & Fitness (SUSF), the Flames possess an Academy squad of around 15 athletes ranging in ages from 16 to 19 years.
Panousis, and the rest of the Flames Academy Program squad, take part in regular individual and small group on-court sessions, along with supervised strength and conditioning with a view to developing future Flames WNBL players.
Flames head coach and club legend Karen Dalton plays a key role with the Academy athletes.
The aim of the Academy program is to provide a link between the strong Basketball NSW development programs, the New South Wales Institute of Sport basketball program and the state’s only WNBL club.
Sydney University and SUSF have had a strong tradition of providing elite development pathways to Sydney and NSW student athletes and the Academy program has continued this focus.
The Aussies’ first match-up is against Japan. Also competing in the women’s tournament is USA, Brazil, Italy, Canada, Turkey, Spain, Netherlands, Belgium, Japan, Korea and Mali.
The Championships run until August 26.
CLICK HERE for the full schedule.
