The team will contest the Australian Under 20 Championships to be held in Canberra from February 19 to 25.

Clark is one of only two Victorian Country players to make the team, the rest of the players coming from the powerful Victorian Metro program.

The other Victorian Country player selected was Tessa Lavey, now an Australian Institute of Sport player.

There are a total of four AIS players on the team, which gives evidence of the strength of the team.

Ex-American and WNBL coach Lori Chizik has been selected to coach the team, along with ex-Australian Olympic rep Michelle Brogan and current Victorian Country coaching director Andrea Walsh as assistant coaches.

Clark, who now resides in Ballarat, was developed through the WHK Mildura Basketball Junior Heat program, and was a powerhouse in Mildura’s most recent 2009 Division One women’s under 16 Victorian Country title win, with the team going on to finish in the top eight at the National Classic.

Richmond footballer Matt Dea is the only other player from Sunraysia of recent times to make the under 20 state team.

Other players to do well with recent state selections are Jack Saunders, who made it into the under 18 men’s Victorian state team; Caitlin McLachlan has been selected into the under 18 women’s state team as a bottom age player; and Mikayla Delcastegne has been selected as emergency to the under 18 women’s state team.

Delcastegne is a bottom age player and her selection as emergency places her in good position for possible selection into next year’s state team. She will return to play with the Lady Heat when she has finished her training with the state team.

Jack Saunders is now living in Ballarat and Caitlin McLachlan recently shifted to Bendigo, but both have been developed through the local WHK Junior Heat program.

Denelle Fawcett is another local to do well, being picked up by Adelaide’s Southern Tigers.

She is moving to Adelaide for university and take her place on their ABA roster as a development player, playing into the second tier of Australian basketball.

Although a number of players have moved away from the district to pursue their basketball dreams as well as their education, it is a compliment to the local WHK Heat Junior representative program that so many clubs are chasing players.

This article appeared in Saturday’s Sunraysia Daily 11/02/2012.