A venture into new territory has proven to be a winning move for Ashburton College’s junior boys’ basketball side.

The team is this season travelling to Christchurch weekly to compete in the Canterbury under-17 boys’ competition, and after a tough introduction to the city competition they’ve found their stride.

They were well beaten by a slick Christ’s College in week one, but bounced back with wins against Cashmere and Burnside which meant they’d done enough to play their way into the top 16, of 32 teams.

They would now compete over the next eight weeks to try and make the top eight.

Coach Mark Douglas said with training twice a week, and a lot of extra effort being put in, the progress that was being made was encouraging.

“It’s like anything, you put in the hard work and you will get the results,” Douglas said.

With the help of pre-season yoga, kick-boxing and spin to keep everyone fresh, Douglas said they were trying to introduce as many ‘extras’ as they could to expand the boys’ knowledge.

The latest extra is a session with South Island Basketball’s newly appointed high performance manager Mel Downer, a former head coach at the Australian Institute of Sport, on Monday.

Douglas said the session – at the Ashburton College gym from 4pm until 6pm – would be a fantastic learning opportunity, not just for the athletes, but for coaches, too.

“If any coaches wished to sit in on Mel’s training session with the boys they are more than welcome.”

© The Ashburton Guardian - 17 May 2019