Abbey’s game on point guard

For the past four years though it has been the basketball court that has most benefited from the young athlete’s presence.

Playing for three years with the Cootamundra Cougars, Abbey’s ability soon become apparent and she was called up for representative honours with the Southern Sports Academy in 2013.

The next year she progressed from the development squad to a scholarship.

This year she finally had the opportunity to mix it with the best of the best at the ClubsNSW Academy Games in Terrigal from April 10-12.

Abbey was the only local athlete to qualify and was joined by Abbey Morton and Gabby Tsirchn (Wagga), Lucy Preston and Emily Clyne (Leeton), Lexie Tuckett and Jessica Sommerfield (Narranderra), and Piper Duck (Tumut).

The games bring together over 700 athletes aged 13-15 from 11 academies around NSW to compete in basketball, AFL, golf, hockey, netball and triathlon.

Abbey’s team wore yellow ribbons in memory of Stephanie Scott as they played on the day she was supposed to be married. 

They took home bronze medals, losing to eventual champions Western Sydney in the semi-final but beating North Coast in the third place playoff.

Abbey said the games were a good experience and thanked Cootamundra Basketball Association for sponsoring her attendance.

“It was good playing with other experienced girls and constantly being competitive,” she said.

“All the other sides were strong and it made us play better as a team.”

The games were also an opportunity for Abbey to continue to develop her point guard skills for the Basketball NSW Western League.

This year Cootamundra does not have a side in her age group, but Abbey was given an opportunity by her friends in the Narranderra Knights.