The junior boys Byron Beez basketball squad of up to 40 players won all three of their age grades at the Yamba Junior Prawn Carnival earlier this month.
The local club sent down an U/12 team, two U/14 teams and an U/16 team to play against sides from all over northern NSW including Bellinger River, Taree, Grafton and Lismore.
Both U/14s teams made their age grand final and the U/12s beat Bellinger Valley, while the U/16s triumphed over Kempsey.
The players who made the trip down are mainly part of the club’s development squad, but some of the U/16 players compete in the Northern Junior League already, according to club spokesman Alvin Caoyonan.
‘The U/16s are coached by Nash Campbell, who has done a great job taking his team to the next level,’ Alvin said.
The competition was squeezed into one long day and meant the boys played up to four games each.
‘Everyone played really well,’ Alvin said.
‘For a lot of the boys it was the first time they have played out of the regular local Byron competition.
‘It is really good to see a whole lot of new faces playing representative basketball,’ he said.
The club is growing every year and now has up to 420 members.
The success builds on the work of the local primary school team that won the state championship last year.
The day was a great warm-up for the Northern Junior League that has its first meeting for the year in Tamworth in March.
The Byron Beez have been sending U/14 and U/16 boys’ teams to the NJL since last year, and in 2017 they will also enter U/14 and U/16 girls’ teams.
