Two Vanderhoof Players Try out and Make the U-15 Regional Team

Jonathan Mueller and Austin Weg both tried out and were selected for the Basketball BC's Central Regional team on April 15th. "It was a very competitve tryout said Vaughn Mueller. There were was a strong contingent of players, so the try outs were very competitive and nerve racking for the boys."

For Jonathan this is his 3rd consecutive year of regional basketball, that has seen him participate in numerous out of season competitions againste the top players in the province. Last year Jonathan was selected at the Jamboree as one of the top 50 players in BC for his age group, unfortunately he narowly missed being chosen as one of the top 24 players for either the Red and Blue Provincial teams. This year he's back to try it again and really looking forward to the opportunity once again. The competition is fierce said Mueller, once you get out of the north and you travel down to the lower mainland you are emersed into a basketball culture that has very much an elite approach. You are just number down there, infact during the try-outs they number you with a permanent marker and thats how they identify you." Jonathan has made some huge strides this year helping lead his Junior Vikes team to a 17-11 record that saw them make it to the zone finals. He is maturing into a solid point guard, and he understands what it takes to get better. He knows that the secret formula to success is work. Since the end of the season he has commited himself to countless hours of gym time working on essential basketball skills so that he is ready for this new challenge.

For Austin Weg this is a whole new experience, he has lived in Vanderhoof for less than a year now, moving from Arizona last fall. He is a tremendous natural athlete, with good size and strong work ethic said Mueller. His potential to this point is largley untapped, with further experience and continued work on his funadmentals, he has the potential to blossom into a dominant post player. "Its not everyday that you have a 6'3" 14 yr old with size 17 feet walk into your gym" For Austin this will be a learning experience, adittional playing time againste top level players. "Mueller say's so far he has shown solid improvements and as he continues to work on his skills he will get better and better."

Both Boys will see their first regional action this coming weekend at the TRU invitational in Kamloops. the boys will see a variety of different types of teams down there said Mueller. it will give them a good opportunity to see potentially how they measure up to the rest of the boys in the province.