Makaela achieves basketball dream
Playing for Victoria Country has been a dream for Makaela Zeldenryk ever since becoming a part of the representative basketball program at Warragul and District Amateur Basketball Association.
With a lot of training and hard work, Makaela will realise that dream when she lines up for Victoria Country in July.
After beginning her representative career with the Warragul Warriors in 2011, Makaela decided to expand her basketball and attended try outs for Dandenong Rangers. Coaches quickly noticed her talent, and she was selected in the firsts team.
In her first year of representative basketball, Makaela was lucky enough to have the opportunity to try out and in early 2015, she earned herself a spot in the Southern Cross Challenge team.
That led to an invitation to try out for the National Intensive Training Program, and as a result Makaela was offered a spot in the under 16 Victoria Country state team as an emergency.
This year Makaela was driven to go one step better and pushed herself to achieve her goal, completing a mountain of training seven days a week under the watchful eye of Danny Murnane, Peter Bruce and John White.
After the NITP program, tryouts for the under 16 state team began. These lasted several weeks where hundreds of athletes, including those playing in the Victorian championships, as well as 33 NITP athletes, came together to compete for only 10 spots to represent Vic Country in the 2017 Australian championships.
Makaela was also selected to represent Victorian Country in New Zealand in April this year as part of the Country Cup selections process. Following Country Cup selections, Makaela was invited to attend the All State Combine, which was the final step in her journey for selection into the Victoria Country state team.
“It has required a lot of training, playing hard at every game, and playing as a team with a want to win attitude,” she said.
Makaela lists a positive attitude, listening to her coaches, being a leader on and off the court and being able to read other players as key attributes that have helped her on her journey.
Years of dedication, demanding work and focus has paid off for Makaela. With her goal of selection in the state team now complete, she now has many more on her list.