By ADEM SARICAOGLU
A GROUP of young Keilor Thunder basketballers are gearing up for a once-in-a-lifetime trip to the US later this year.
Eight of the club’s finest under-18 and under-20 players will jet off to the states on boxing day with their coach Sam Fileccia for a tour that will include visits to some of the country’s finest basketball setups across Texas, Las Vegas and Los Angeles.
It’s set to be the inaugural trip of a new initiative developed by the club to give its young stars a chance to experience life as student athletes within the USA college basketball system.
“We’re the trailblazers making a path for future teams,” Fileccia explained.
“What we’re looking at doing is giving these girls a reward for playing their junior basketball through Keilor and also give them a good experience and different style of basketball, and hopefully there might be some scouts out there when we play in our tournaments and exhibition games.”
The team will visit Dallas, Houston and San Antonio before flying out to Las Vegas to play some exhibition games against local high school and junior college teams before finishing the 25-day trip in Los Angeles.
Fileccia, along with his team, cannot wait for December to come round.
“I’m loving the opportunity of coaching these girls,” he said. “I think we’ve got a fairly strong team and I think we’re going to do fairly well in America.
“For me – it was something that was always on my bucket list, to coach a team in the USA.
“This is my first tour so I’m looking forward to it, just to see these girls have a good opportunity and actually play against some other elite players.”
Team member Maddison Savvidis will be one of the eight girls hoping to catch the eye of college scouts while touring the US.
“It’s something you’ve always looked up to, to go over to America and play basketball. It’s a dream type thing to do and be a part of,” Savvidis said.“It’s a good opportunity to be seen over in America and get this chance.”
Fileccia and the club have set up a number of fundraising initiatives to help finance the trip, including raffles and a junior basketball camp which will be run over the school holidays in July.
To assist with the club’s fundraising efforts or for further inquiries about the basketball camp, contact the club at 9336 0178, or email kba.usa@hotmail.com.
