The foursome joins more than 250 girls and boys from across country Victoria to be selected to attend the under-14 camp at Bendigo next month.
After earning selection through a rigorous 20-week skills development program at Echuca, Phillips, 13, and Napier, 12, said it felt great to reach the next step.
“Out of all the girls who tried out, to be asked is great, especially from a small town,” Phillips said.
Training Thursday mornings from 6.30am as part of the program, Sutton and Fleming, both 12, said the early mornings were worth it for the chance to attend the camp.
“It was hard waking up in the mornings, but I learnt a lot from it,” Sutton said.
“Once you got there, you felt better knowing you had done it,” Fleming added.
With Phillips a top-age player, and Napier, Sutton and Fleming bottom-aged, all four said they hoped to learn as much as possible when attending the camp.
“Just to get that experience and take some more skills away from it, that we can bring back to our games here,” Napier said.
Players are given the opportunity to further impress at the camp, with possible selection in the 2022 Country Metro Challenge up-for-grabs.
This replaces the teams typically selected for the Australian Country Junior Basketball Cup (ACJBC) and Southern Cross Challenge (SCC) which have been cancelled this year.
Basketball Victoria General Manager for High Performance and Pathway Grant Wallace said he was excited to get junior basketball players back on court as part of the camp.
“These camps form the foundation of future success at the Victorian and Australian level with plenty of Australian representatives such as Matthew Dellavedova and Tessa Lavey attending the camp to start their elite basketball careers,” Wallace said.
“We’re excited to get our Country stars back on court with the Gold Nugget Camp and help them reach for their biggest basketball ambitions.”
Fleming and Sutton will attend Gold Nugget Camp on November 13, before Napier and Phillips head over to Bendigo on November 14.
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