Hills Hornets U14 side impress at Nationals

The Hills Hornets Under-14 boys Premier team have impressed against some of Australia’s best teams in the 2023 Under-14 National Basketball Championships in Victoria.

The Hornets, which has a rich and proud history in basketball, said it was “an incredible achievement just to qualify in the top 24 teams in Australia, but the team had an amazing tournament overall.”

The Hornets Under-14 boys outfit had an excellent run, winning their first five games to head their pool and qualify for the top eight, putting them through to the quarter-finals. The Hornets lost to Victorian club, Keilor Thunder, in the knock-out stage.

However, the Hornets rebounded to beat Casey Cavaliers and finish as the seventh team in Australia, and importantly the number one side in NSW.

The Hills Hornets paid tribute to the set of youngsters who gave their all at the championships.

“This is an outstanding achievement for the team and we congratulate all players, coaches, and supporters,” the club said.

The progress of their youth team is just one part of the highly-successful Hills Basketball Association, which was formed in 1984. The association is fielding 23 junior and seven senior representative teams, while more than 850 teams compete in their competitions.

The association runs more than 380 local competition games each week, involving more than 5,500 players, making them one of the largest basketball organisations in NSW. The HBA competitions are hosted at the Hills Basketball Stadium (Castle Hill), Bernie Mullane Sports Complex (Kellyville), and the Dural Recreation Centre.

Remarkably, the Hornsby Academy (skills sessions) attracts more than 1,500 each week, making it one of the largest development programs in Australia.

The Hills Hornets representative program is also one of the most successful in the state. With several state players and coaches, several NBL, WNBL, and Australian representative players, the Hornets program has become leaders in development.

This season there will be men’s and women’s teams competing in the NBL1 East Division. The senior program consists of a very successful tier of players through NBL1, Waratah 1, and Youth League (under-23) women & men.

Meanwhile, the HBA has integrated the Waratah Wheelchair team into the Hornets Representative Program from 2023.