COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo.—One of the summer’s most competitive events is underway at the United States Olympic Training Center. Aiming for a spot on the USA Basketball U16 team to represent the red, white and blue in the 2017 FIBA America’s U16 Championships are 133 athletes including 35 invited by the selection committee. Monday morning (May 29) finalists will be named for the roster with the final team being selected following training camp and the team’s June 4th departure for Buenos Aires, Argentina. Competition begins June 7th as the USA looks to reclaim the Gold after a Bronze Medal performance in the 2015 championships.
The selection process began Thursday evening with the first of three “skills” sessions with the actual trials themselves slated to begin Friday evening. The roster will be trimmed for the first time following the second trials session Saturday morning. Among the participants are 20 athletes who have previously made the trip to Colorado Springs including Sam Brunelle (Ruckersville, Va.) who was part of the Bronze Medal U17 team from last summer’s FIBA World Championships.
Among the athletes taking the floor Thursday evening 63 will graduate in 2019, 58 in 2020 with 12 more finishing up in 2021. Athletes from 32 different states are on hand with Texas leading the way with 15. California follows with 14 while Illinois claims 10 and Colorado, New York, Ohio each feature 9.
For the complete rosters for the USA Basketball 2017 U16 trials use the following link.
https://www.usab.com/womens/u16/roster.aspx
To see the 35 athletes invited by USA Basketball, follow the link below.
https://www.usab.com/news-events/news/2017/04/wu16-invitees.aspx
In the past seven athletes have made USA rosters competing in the “open” trials including the likes of Sabrina Ionescu (Oregon) and Taylor Murray (Kentucky).
Carla Berube (Tufts University) heads up the 2017 USA Basketball Women’s U16 National Team. Steve Gomez (Lubbock Christian University) and Vanessa Nygaard (Windward School, Calif.) complete the staff as USA assistant coaches.
Carol Callan, USA Basketball Women’s National Team director and chair of the USA Basketball Women’s Developmental National Team Committee joins athlete representatives Tamika Catchings, a four-time Olympic and two-time World Championship gold medalist, and DeLisha Milton-Jones, a two-time Olympic and two-time World Championship gold medalist; AAU representative Kevin Lynch of the Philadelphia Belles; National Federation of High Schools representative Jill Rankin Schneider, a 1980 U.S. Olympian and head coach at Monterey High School in Texas; and at-large representatives Kirsten Moore, head coach at Westmont College (NAIA), and Mia Smith, head coach at Illinois Wesleyan University (DIII) in selecting the athletes to represent the USA in Buenos Aires.
Check back with Blue Star Media throughout the trials for coverage, images and evaluations of all the action in Colorado Springs.
