Post by IAMCAPER on Jun 15, 2005 8:55:43 GMT -4
SYDNEY – A pair of young basketball prodigies who cracked provincial elite team rosters will have a busy summer of hoops ahead.
Fifteen-year-old Chelsea MacKay of River Ryan, and 13-year-old Kelson Devereaux of Sydney, have been chosen for the 16-and-under girls and 14-and-under boys high performance provincial teams respectively ,through Basketball Nova Scotia.
MacKay, a Grade 9 student at Breton Education Centre, helped her junior ‘A’ Bears team win the league’s year-end tournament. The five-foot-six guard also plays midget ‘AAA’ basketball.
“I’m so happy, because I’ve never been on a big team before, just played regularly in New Waterford,” said MacKay, who started playing hoops in Grade 3. “Once (coach Nicole Griffin) asked me, I was pretty excited.”
MacKay’s training for the team requires a lot of travel. She and her family head to Halifax every weekend for practice. Most of July will be all tournament play: in the provincial capital for the Bluenose tournament, July 2-3, the Lobster Cup in Truro, July 10-11, and the Loyalist tournament, July 15-17, in New Brunswick.
The team is also scheduled for a trip to Springfield, Mass., for a tournament, July 23-26, along with an exhibition game in Maine along the way.
In terms of goals she has set for herself this summer, MacKay wants to improve her shooting and aggressiveness on the court.
“Different coaching is major,” she said. “I have a different shot and they want me to change it, so I have to do that.
“One of my big influences is my father,” she added of her father, Hughie MacKay. “He’s been coaching for a long, long time and he has influenced me more than my coaches.”
Devereaux, a five-foot-seven guard for the MacLennan Jr. High Mavericks ‘A’ squad, said he too must endure a tough travel schedule to Halifax each weekend for practice and exhibition games.
“It’s really busy and it’s a lot of work to do,” he said. “It’s really high-end stuff that you have to practise every weekend.”
He said he’ll be doing his best to work his way up the ladder on the team and impress coach Glen Beasy.
“(I’ll be) trying to be the best I can and impress the coach so I can get more (floor) time,” said Devereaux.
“I’m a good shooter, quick and try to make a good defender out of myself.”
Devereaux said he will be attending a basketball camp at St. Francis Xavier University in Antigonish over the summer and hopes to learn some new skills from his coaches in the coming months.
“I’m pretty busy all summer, but I do go to a few camps when I have time.”
The 14-and-under boys squad is also scheduled to play in the Bluenose tournament in Halifax, as well as tournaments in Saint John, N.B., and Montreal late in July.
Fifteen-year-old Chelsea MacKay of River Ryan, and 13-year-old Kelson Devereaux of Sydney, have been chosen for the 16-and-under girls and 14-and-under boys high performance provincial teams respectively ,through Basketball Nova Scotia.
MacKay, a Grade 9 student at Breton Education Centre, helped her junior ‘A’ Bears team win the league’s year-end tournament. The five-foot-six guard also plays midget ‘AAA’ basketball.
“I’m so happy, because I’ve never been on a big team before, just played regularly in New Waterford,” said MacKay, who started playing hoops in Grade 3. “Once (coach Nicole Griffin) asked me, I was pretty excited.”
MacKay’s training for the team requires a lot of travel. She and her family head to Halifax every weekend for practice. Most of July will be all tournament play: in the provincial capital for the Bluenose tournament, July 2-3, the Lobster Cup in Truro, July 10-11, and the Loyalist tournament, July 15-17, in New Brunswick.
The team is also scheduled for a trip to Springfield, Mass., for a tournament, July 23-26, along with an exhibition game in Maine along the way.
In terms of goals she has set for herself this summer, MacKay wants to improve her shooting and aggressiveness on the court.
“Different coaching is major,” she said. “I have a different shot and they want me to change it, so I have to do that.
“One of my big influences is my father,” she added of her father, Hughie MacKay. “He’s been coaching for a long, long time and he has influenced me more than my coaches.”
Devereaux, a five-foot-seven guard for the MacLennan Jr. High Mavericks ‘A’ squad, said he too must endure a tough travel schedule to Halifax each weekend for practice and exhibition games.
“It’s really busy and it’s a lot of work to do,” he said. “It’s really high-end stuff that you have to practise every weekend.”
He said he’ll be doing his best to work his way up the ladder on the team and impress coach Glen Beasy.
“(I’ll be) trying to be the best I can and impress the coach so I can get more (floor) time,” said Devereaux.
“I’m a good shooter, quick and try to make a good defender out of myself.”
Devereaux said he will be attending a basketball camp at St. Francis Xavier University in Antigonish over the summer and hopes to learn some new skills from his coaches in the coming months.
“I’m pretty busy all summer, but I do go to a few camps when I have time.”
The 14-and-under boys squad is also scheduled to play in the Bluenose tournament in Halifax, as well as tournaments in Saint John, N.B., and Montreal late in July.