Basketball
14 October, 2024
Horsham basketballers named in state programs
Six Horsham basketballers have been selected for the State Performance Program (SPP) and State Development Program (SDP). Levi Munyard and Micah Livingstone are in the SPP, and Aiden Reinheimer, Rani Potter, Ruby Bethune, and Chavi Sulic are named in the SDP. Ruby Bethune has decided to decline the invitation due to other commitments.
Following the selection process for Country athletes in Basketball Victoria’s High-Performance Pathway, the 2025 State Development Program (SDP) is Basketball Victoria’s under-pinning program that identifies athletes with long-term potential to play for Victoria and beyond.
Players attend Ballarat weekly at the central hub. In previous years, they have been able to attend sub-hubs. It's not yet confirmed, but Cam Bruce has run sub-hubs in Horsham in previous years, and Basketball Victoria has yet to tick that off for next year.
The SPP commences in October and is a 12-month program run out of Mullum Mullum Stadium Ringwood Melbourne. Sub-hub training in Horsham with Cam Bruce may also be an option for other sessions.
Munyard and Livingstone have been named in the 2025 Australian Country Junior Basketball Cup (AJCBC), which will be held in Albury from Monday, January 13, to Saturday, January 18, 2025.
Two more Horsham Basketballers are also named in the Albury Cup: Luella Burke and Elliott Tippet, the latter an emergency.
Each year, upwards of 60 teams and 700 players, coaches, and officials participate in the U14, U16, and U18 age groups, representing their state at the country level. These include teams from Victoria, NSW, SA, and New Zealand.
Sulic will play in the Southern Cross Challenge from January 14 to 20 at the State Basketball Centre in Wantirna South, in Melbourne's Eastern Suburbs.
The Southern Cross Challenge (SCC) is a tournament open to Under-14 and Under-15 male and female teams from around Australia.
The tournament focuses on allowing the athletes to experience a competitive atmosphere in which they can learn from and develop. Many previous athletes have developed into elite athletes who have competed nationally and internationally.
Munyard was an emergency in 2023 and made the AJCBC in 2024. Following an outstanding performance in 2023 and 2024, he was named an emergency for the state team, and he will be looking at making the state team in 2025.
Munyard's parents, Amanda and Grant, are proud of their son, and Amanda said it will be a different experience this time.
"Last year, when he went along, he was a bottom ager, and now he is going in as a top ager. He not only has developed more but has worked on the things he needed to work on," Amanda said.
"They will look for his experience and take it into the team to help the other boys."
Munyard's father, Grant, said they have changed things and that the selectors are looking for his leadership and toughness.
"The selectors realised they need to change how they do things, and they are after toughness and real grunt and physicality, which Levi brings," Grant said.
"They need that toughness in their squad, having lacked it in recent years, and Levi brings that.
"His hardness and willingness to win at all costs is where his basketball is at. He will be working his hardest to work towards the state team.
"After being an emergency, he has the fire in the belly, and it shows all the work he has done in the last two years has put him in good stead."
Amanda said they are proud of him.
"We are super proud of him and have never known a kid so driven to get to where he wants to go," Amanda said.
"For the knockback he has, he kept getting up and trying, which shows true determination."
Levi was invited to a four-day camp at the Australian Institute of Sport and attended with seven other boys from Country Victoria two weeks ago.
They were put through their paces in a highly intense training camp and were watched by Basketball Australia coaches and College Basketball Coaches in the USA.
Amanda said that experience has inspired him.
"He had the opportunity to go there and see what it's all about, and he has come back more determined, and it was a thrilling experience for him," Amanda said.
Amanda and Grant have been driving over 12 hours each week to Ballarat and back for Levi's basketball commitments for the last two years. This year, they made the tough decision to put him in boarding school to make it easier for him to excel at Basketball.
"Being based in Ballarat now, he can solely focus on school and basketball, and it's more manageable," Amanda said.
"We want to give him the best chance to succeed at basketball, and we will regret it for the rest of our lives if we don't give him the opportunity, so we bit the bullet and gave it a go and will see how far he can go.
"We will be a bit lost and won't know what to do with our free time, which is good because Levi can work towards his dream."
CAM BRUCE: IT'S AN EXCITING TIME
Basketball coach Cam Bruce is excited about the many local players announced in the programs and where Levi Munyard and Micah Livingstone could go in basketball.
Bruce has run sub-hubs in previous years, alleviating the pressure from families travelling to Ballarat and Melbourne each week, and is just waiting for Basketball Victoria to approve one in Horsham.
Joel Anderson is the region coach, and Bruce said that having trust in him to run these hubs is massive.
"These programs are important, and there will be sub-hubs, but it's just a wait-and-see yet as Basketball Victoria hasn't approved it," Bruce said.
"To have trust in me is a big thing, and I have to try my best to deliver the program and keep them performing and progressing."
Bruce has worked hard with Livingstone and Munyard in the past two years, coached them in the under-16s, and worked closely with them in a few individual sessions before school and is thrilled their hard work is paying dividends.
"It's been outstanding from a development viewpoint for the last five or six years, and to have those boys commit themselves and get the reward for effort from how hard they train is brilliant," Bruce said.
Bruce explained the difference between the SDD and the SPPs.
"In the state development program, it's a long term for players that have the potential to represent the state," Bruce said.
"This is the first year they are running the SPP, and it's flagging junior basketballers on the verge of being on the state team.
"Both boys have an excellent chance to make the team, and they just have to keep working hard and getting the shots up, and hopefully, they can represent the state together."