SA gets ready to roll out against New Zealand

Age and experience is forming the core of preparations of the South Africa and New Zealand (Black Rollers) wheelchair basketball tour.

South Africa has called well known players and those who are up-and-coming into the training camps.

On Saturday, the national team players, the Wheeler Boys, took on the Sasol All Stars, the promising players.

From these teams, a national team will be selected to face the Black Rollers.

The tour will start on August 27 and will end on September 6. The games will be held at the Mandeville Sports Centre.

The selected players will play together until the beginning of the tour.

The South Africa Wheelchair Basketball (SAWB) spokesperson, Ms Nwabisa Noguba, said they are bridging the generation gap that has affected the team previously.

“We had good players who took us to the 2007 Olympics. When we came back, most of those players resigned. They resigned because of their age. Now we are bringing in young, talented players to play alongside the experienced players. There are players from development. There are also players who play school sports here, but because of their quality, they have been given a chance to train with the national team,” she said.

Ms Noguba said the method they are using is to develop the sport from the grass-roots level to the national level.

She believes that when the Black Rollers arrive, the team will be ready.

“We need to be ready. Our players are spending more time together, so when the time comes, they will play together like a team. The coach will be able to select working combinations. We will not have good players who are not used to each other,” she said.

The selection of the players will take place closer to when the tournament will start.