Four Albury basketballers included in Basketball NSW state performance program

Aliera McCowan, Jade Crook, Noah Rowston and Angus Masters are among the 40 boys and 40 girls from country and metropolitan NSW to feature in the state performance program.

Both McCowan and Crook were identified as bottom-age prospects for the under-16 girls, while Rowston and Masters are top-agers in the under-16 boys.

All four made the seven-hour trip to Maitland, north of Newcastle, where they were successful in the trial process.

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Albury Basketball Association has never had four of its players selected for high performance honours in the same year.

The program is the second tier of Basketball NSW's high performance setup and aims to develop and prepare athletes in the under-16 and under-18 age groups to represent the state at the Australian national championships.

The quartet recently completed induction weekends in Sydney where they were put through fitness testing, education about nutrition, injury prevention, drugs in sport (which included the completion of an ASADA course), as well as basketball skills and drills.

During the year, the players will complete individual workouts set out by NSW Basketball and attend weekly team hub training sessions.

Training will also take place in Sydney at various times during 2021 and players will be in regular contact with NSW coaches.

The program runs until August.