By Tanya Steele
Young Healesville basketballer Brylee Anderson has been selected for the Basketball Victoria Under 16 basketball Victorian Country women’s team for the second year in a row and will go to play in the Australian Championships.
Brylee said she is very excited to make the team again this year.
“Last year was one of the best experiences I have ever had and I can’t wait to have the opportunity again this year,” she said.
Basketball Victoria High Performance Hub Lead Coach Mat Holmes is also very proud to work with Brylee again.
“She’s back again for the second time, which is great,” he said.
“It’s quite exceptional to make it at a bottom, then top age,”
Holmes said Brylee had shown a real ability on the basketball court in her ability to get into the paint.
“She is hard to guard because of her speed and skillset,” he said.
Holmes has worked with Brylee for many years and said he is proud she keeps achieving the way she does.
“As a player her athleticism and coachability is a real plus, she takes everything on board and tries everything,” he said.
Holmes himself is two times Victorian Country Male Coach of the Year, and his Gippsland Hub out of Traralgan has kids travelling from all over regional Victoria to train on the high-performance team.
Brylee said that going to training each week all around Victoria takes up a lot of time and effort from both her and my family, they average around 500 km a week travelling to training.
“But it is all worth it when I get experiences like this,” she said.
“I am lucky that I don’t have too much homework at the moment so I haven’t had to worry about it while travelling to and from training.”
Bryle said she first got into the sport when she began playing mini-ball in Healesville at the age of five.
“From there I started doing after school basketball with my older cousin Brayden as a coach and ever since then I have loved the game,” she said.
Moving on from after school basketball Brylee said she then went on to play for Mount Lilydale Lakers for her regular domestic basketball.
“I have loved it there and they have given me so much support and encouragement, my representative club has always been the Kilsyth Cobras,” she said.
“They taught me so much and helped to get me where I am today.”
Brylee was also selected for the School Sport Victoria under 15 girls team for the second year in a row for football.
“This year I will be heading to Ballarat at the end of July for a week-long tournament, I am also very excited about this experience and grateful to have this opportunity again this year,” she said.
“I started playing footy at Healesville Junior football club and still play whenever I can in between basketball commitments.”
In later July, Brylee will be heading to Perth with her team at Basketball Victoria for the Australian Junior Championships and said she is very excited to compete in Perth again.
“I am hoping to bring home a medal this year after just falling short last year,” she said.
Brylee said the sport gives back because she gets friends along the way with so many different people.
The young athlete will be fundraising for her upcoming trip through the Australian Sports Foundation and has her eye on her goals.
“At the moment I am just going to keep working hard to improve as well as enjoying the game and the experiences and will see where the game takes me,” she said.
Brylee’s fundraising page is located at: www.asf.org.au/projects/brylee-anderson-2023-duel-sports-state-athlete
