Basketball New Zealand (BBNZ) is excited to announce a new U17 Women’s National Team cycle for 2024, with the appointment of key coaching staff and the establishment of a selection camp for later this year.
The U17 Women’s cycle operates over a three-year FIBA progression system, beginning with the FIBA U15 Oceania Championships later this year – the date and location yet to be confirmed by FIBA. The top two countries from this competition progress to the FIBA U16 Asian Women’s Championships in 2025, with the four highest-ranked teams earning a place at the cycle’s pinnacle event: the FIBA U17 Women’s World Cup in 2026.
The coaching staff for this U15 Women’s cycle sees Liam Connelly installed as head coach, with Aled Jones, Darci Finnigan and Maia Williamson coming in as assistants. Kat Wills is on board as Team Manager and Ashley Harmsworth will be Team Physiotherapist.
This group will run a U15 Women’s National Team selection camp at Dilworth senior campus in Auckland during the July school holidays; the multi-day events operating as a combined ‘mega-camp’ alongside the U15 Men’s National Team selection camp – bringing 48 of Aotearoa’s brightest young basketball talent to one location.
The 24 participants invited to this selection camp include: Charis Broughton, Shamar Broughton, Riley McClenaghan, Rosie Gaffaney, Rio Capri Southey, Hayley Forbes, Sienna Letoa-Tuala, Sienna Maurice, Danielle Tewhata, Lola Harris, Maddison Skelton, Ava Jones, Nahala Toeleiu, Areta Kahura, Aryana Maere-Cowan, Olive Maling, Imani Rasmussen, Katie Moors, Maniah Taefu, Mia John, Georgia Barnes, Makenzie Disher, Kilani-Mae Tuineau and Emilia Ainley.
In addition, four selection camp reserves have been named as: Amaia Edwards, Bella’Capri Nelson, Kahurangi Hawea-Kingi and Natalja Burton.
Coach Connelly joins the U15 Women’s cycle following an assistant coach role with the Junior Tall Ferns in the previous cycle. Connelly – who also serves as assistant coach with the Canterbury Rams in the Sal’s NBL – is excited to helm this team over the next three years.
“I’m really excited to be leading this programme from year one, for me it’s my first time leading a national team programme and I love the balance with the staff we’ve put together and the skillsets they bring,” says Connelly.
“The player pool is looking really skilled and promising. Obviously there’s things we can all still get better at and improve on, so I’m excited for what the next three years might hold for them.”
Coach Connelly says it was a difficult process to choose 24 athletes to attend the selection camp – and it will be an even tougher task to select a squad of 12 for the Oceania Champs.
“We’ve held three regional camps so far in Rangiora, Palmerston North and Auckland, with about 120 athletes attending those camps. From there we’ve taken that number down – based on the camp performances and feedback from other coaches – to 24 athletes as well as four non-travelling reserves. There’s a lot of talent out there in this age group.
“The selection camp in July will give us four days to evaluate these 24 players, and it’s followed by the U16 Nationals the week after; those two events will give us enough data to pick out a squad of 12 to travel to the Oceania Champs.”
Coach Connelly will use the time between now and July to introduce new training concepts to the athletes, to help ease them into the expectations of representing New Zealand at age group level.
“Leading up to our July camp, we’ll have limited contact points with the athletes; so we’re working on ways to remain engaged with them and create a bit of connection remotely through zooms etc. We’ll also split the athletes up amongst our assistant coaches, who will check in with the group regularly to see how they’re all going.
“One of the plans is also to have ongoing communication with the athlete’s coaches [outside of the national setting], so that they know what we need them to be working on. We’ll look to send both the athlete and their coach a new concept each week, so they get an early understanding of the concepts we run at the national level.
“If we can give these players a working knowledge of the concepts we’ll be focussing on, it’ll help us to hit the ground running for later in the year.”
U15 Women’s National Team – Selection Camp Attendees, July 2024
Charis Broughton, Tauranga City Basketball Association
Shamar Broughton, Tauranga City Basketball Association
Riley McClenaghan, Tauranga City Basketball Association
Rosie Gaffaney, Basketball Otago
Rio Capri Southey, Counties Manukau Basketball
Hayley Forbes, Waikato Basketball
Sienna Letoa-Tuala, Basketball Hutt Valley
Sienna Maurice, Harbour Basketball
Danielle Tewhata, Basketball Taranaki
Lola Harris, Canterbury Basketball Association
Maddison Skelton, North Harbour Basketball
Ava Jones, Nelson Basketball
Nahala Toeleiu, Wellington Basketball
Areta Kahura, Tauranga City Basketball Association
Aryana Maere-Cowan, Basketball Hutt Valley
Olive Maling, North Harbour Basketball
Imani Rasmussen, North Harbour Basketball
Katie Moors, North Harbour Basketball
Maniah Taefu, Canterbury Basketball Association
Mia John, North Harbour Basketball
Georgia Barnes, Northland Basketball
Makenzie Disher, Canterbury Basketball Association
Kilani-Mae Tuineau, Counties Manukau Basketball
Emilia Ainley, Nelson Basketball
U15 Women’s National Team – Selection Camp Reserves
Amaia Edwards, Rotorua Basketball
Bella’Capri Nelson, Waikato Basketball
Kahurangi Hawea-Kingi, Rotorua Basketball
Natalja Burton, North Harbour Basketball
U15 Women’s National Team – Key Staff
Head Coach – Liam Connelly
Assistant Coach – Aled Jones
Assistant Coach – Darci Finnigan
Assistant Coach – Maia Williamson
Team Manager – Kat Wills
Team Physiotherapist – Ashley Harmsworth
