The journey of South Korean women’s basketball dreamers has begun.
The youth national team that will compete at the FIBA U16 Women’s Asian Championship 2023 convened at the Korea Basketball Association in Bangi-dong, Songpa-gu, on Monday. The players held a combine on the 3×3 court at the Olympic Park to begin their preparations for the tournament.
Heo Man-duk, head coach of the U16 Women’s National Basketball Team, said, “The team is made up of long players who can play both center and forward. We plan to reduce the weaknesses of mismatches and expand the range of players.” “Australia has good strength and height. However, we don’t know the full strength of Taiwan. We plan to improve our organization to face them.”
The team was drawn in Division A with Australia, Chinese Taipei, Thailand and Syria at the FIBA U16 Women’s Asian Championship in Amman, Jordan in July.
“We’re not in a situation where a lot of physical training will make us stronger right away,” says Heo. We will have four weeks of practice matches to improve our organization. We are planning to have practice matches with several teams, including men’s middle schools, unemployment teams, and professional teams.”
After the combine, the national team will travel to Daejeon. Unable to find a place to practice, the U16 women’s basketball team will train at the Daejeon Women’s Gymnasium. The team will be based in Daejeon for about four weeks.
“It was difficult to find a gym because professional teams are preparing for the season,” says Heo. National team coach Lee Yena (Daejeon Women’s College) sent a letter to the school and asked for cooperation. We were able to train in the morning, afternoon, and night. On days when we don’t train, we will travel to and from the Seoul metropolitan area, Busan, etc. for afternoon practice matches.”스포츠토토
Despite the tough road ahead, the young national team players’ faces were full of smiles during the combine.
“I’m looking forward to the team,” said coach Heo Man-duk, “We finished the selection process without any problems. We have gathered players who have been recognized for their potential. They are Korean women’s basketball dreamers. We will prepare for a national team-like game in a situation where there are many expectations.”