Darren Winterbine named team manager again for Australian U16 Basketball Team to travel to Qatar

Mid West Academy of Sport CEO Darren Winterbine will once again manage the under-16s Australian basketball team as they travel to Qatar next week for the Asia Cup. The Australian team, known as the Crocodiles, will travel to Qatar and compete in the 2023 FIBA U16 Asian Championship, where 16 countries will be vying to qualify for next year’s U17 Basketball World Cup. “Sixteen teams play over eight days, then the top four teams qualify for the World Champs, which will be in Turkey, in July next year,” Winterbine said. “Which is a huge thing, it’s a big tournament for the athletes, because there’s a lot of college scouts, there is a lot of people watching, but it’s a huge thing to play for the country.” Winterbine returns to his role as team manager, after being a part of the U15 Crocodiles team that won the Oceania championships last year. “Last year we went to Oceania qualification with the team. We won the tournament in Guam, obviously our goal is to win this. There’s eight of those boys still remaining from that team and we’ve had four new ones come in,” he said. While this year’s side does not feature any WA talent, the competition will serve as a platform for the athletes to get scouted. “The opportunity to play in front of college scouts, there’s a lot of pro teams that will keep an eye on it … they’re have feelers out for these kids in the next year or two,” Winterbine said. “There’d be at least 100 scouts from college teams, they’re watching, so they want to recruit the best kids from across the world. “Last year from the team, four of the boys have now got scholarships at the centre of excellence and the NBA global academy.” Taking on the role of team manager means that Winterbine is heavily involved in the team’s day-to-day activities. Managing their on and off court activities can be challenging but rewarding, Winterbine says. “Making sure they’re getting sleep, the food, all the nutrition and all the logistics around the performances aspects – how we get these kids to perform day in and day out at the highest level,” he said. “A lot of the logistics around us, obviously we’re travelling a large distance, so a lot of the things … meal times, managing the group, organising meetings, making sure that we’ve got everything we need on and off the court.” With the wide range of tasks involved, Winterbine said he got the role through an application process and he was able to bring everything he learnt with the team to athletes back in the Mid West. “I’ve got a good background in basketball, it was just an application process and showing that I have those skills on and off the court to be able to contribute at this national junior team level,” he said. “It’s great for me because then I bring all those things that I learned from this back here to the local level, to the Mid West academies and pass it through those programs to the athletes.” The Crocodiles will travel to Qatar next week where they will play in group stages, trying to qualify for Turkey, with their first game against India on September 17.