Sport
8 May, 2026
Future basketball champs get ready
IF being in the midst of their current representative season wasn’t enough, 15 of Cairns’ finest young talents have found themselves being picked for a key part of their journey to professional basketball.
Cairns Basketball have had seven boys and eight girls picked to be part of Basketball Queensland future development program (FDP), where the prodigies get to train and be part of some of the state’s most elite training programs.
FDP is an introduction into some of the state and national programs, giving the young athletes a taste of what’s required to perform at the highest level.
A Basketball Queensland site said “the Future Development Program (FDP) is a key program in our player development pathway focusing on the identification, support and development of athletes aged 12-13 years old and on the development of aspiring talented coaches.”
Program participants are introduced to aspects of Basketball Queensland’s style of play and participate in the development program across term two and three of the school calendar.
This consists of one training per week culminating in an all-state camp.
FDP is only a first step in athlete identification in the Basketball Queensland pathway.
The Cairns athletes selected were:
Girls - Amy Bawden, Annabel Hill, Blayze Taylor, Neva Mills-Cetinich, Scarlett Morgan, Tarkhii Accoom, Tessa Bolton and Zenzi Arnold.
Boys - Fletcher Cross, Hunter Adam, Jamaul Sambo, Ky Burston, Levi Moroney, Milos Jaksic and Ned Isbel.
Between their weekly trainings and all state camps the 15 young athletes are still training twice a week for the Cairns representative season, with the players named above travelling to Mackay for round two of their NQJBC tournament from 8-10 May.
