Written in conjunction with Jai Simmons, 2024 BV Rookie Reporter Program
With the 2024 Under 16 National Championships just around the corner, excitement builds as teams from across the country embark on a mission to take home this year’s gold medal. It’s also a time of celebration and reflection of many great memories for past teams who have been there before. Specifically, the 1994 Under 16 Vic Country team who will be celebrating 30 years since they took home the silver medal and enjoying a much-anticipated reunion at this year’s Under 16 Nationals in Bendigo in July.
The 1994 Vic Country Assistant Coach Gary Driver describes their silver medal as a “big achievement”. As the Vic Metro team were considered favourites at the time, Vic Country established their authority in the semi-final knocking the highly regarded Vic Metro out of the 1994 tournament in what is labelled by Driver as a match that “couldn’t have been better”.
Driver states that many of the “old timers” within Vic Country still take particular interest in the National Championships to see how the younger generations are going. They hope the successes of previous years inspire future generations of basketballers to compete at the highest level, and it has. Just 30 years after the 1994 Vic Country Under 16 successes in Wanneroo Western Australia, a miraculous twist of fate now sees Peter Buckle (1994 coach) and his son Joseph Buckle, as well as Matthew Cape (1994 player) and his son Oliver Cape feature in the same team at the same tournament. Both Joseph and Oliver will compete in the 2024 Vic Country Under 16 team and will look to go one step further than their fathers to bring gold to Vic Country three decades later.
Joseph Buckle Oliver Cape
The 1994 squad have organised a reunion on the second weekend of the Championships, with a team member even travelling from Canada to attend. Gary Driver, say he hasn’t seen some of his teammates for around 30 years and is “looking forward to catching up with them”.
The 2024 Under 16 Nationals Championships will begin on Saturday 6 July with the opening ceremony, followed by the opening games featuring Victoria Country playing New South Wales Country in the girl's division and Victoria Country competing against Tasmania in the boy's division. The championships will continue through till the gold medal games on Sunday 14 July.
For more information about the championships, including tickets, livestream information and schedule click below.
