Sophie-Clare Croker certainly has a busy time ahead of her on the basketball court.
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The 13-year-old has been selected in the under 15s development country squad after initially trying out for the under 16s.
Her selection followed a successful outing at a trial camp.
Sophie-Clare is the Manning River Times – Iguana Sportstar of the Week, earning a $50 open order at Iguana.
This squad is open to all budding basketballers from across NSW.
“In January we go to Newcastle for four days and we play a couple of games and training,” she said.
She is also a member of the Hunter Academy of Sport 2017/2018 basketball squad.
Sophie-Clare is joined by fellow Taree Tornadoes junior Kaylah Thompson following two selection trials.
The program gives Sophie-Clare over 25 hours of on-court sessions, strength and conditioning training as well as nutrition and psychological training and inter-academy training sessions.
It is for Hunter-based athletes who are looking to gain further individual development and competition exposure.
It also provides opportunities for future State team selection and higher senior representative honours.
By participating she could earn selection to play in the ClubsNSW Academy Games in the under 16s.
“I’ll see how I go,” she said.
Croker has been playing basketball for about five years and has loved her role on the court.
"I do a lot of the rebounding and passing," she said.
Sophie-Clare backed her ability to one day be selected for even higher honours.
"There's a 16s team and they can get picked for Australia,” she said.
This year Sophie-Clare also competed for the Taree Tornadoes in the Country Premier League under 14s competition.
"We didn't go too well but it was good,” she said.
This competition brought together teams from the Hunter, North Coast and Central Coast.
If that’s not enough to keep her busy, she’s also a keen netballer. Sophie-Clare is a member of the 2017 Hunter under 14s squad.
Despite not having opportunities to take to the court, she is still honoured to be a member of the side and balance her commitments to basketball.
"We're just a squad and get to train,” Sophie-Clare said. This is a four-hour session that takes place every Saturday.
She added that a player from this squad could play in the under 15s division if there was an injury.
Sophie-Clare goes to Taree High School and is a part of the 2018 Student Representative Committee.