High School High pt1

School basketball for those of us that can remember it ... is one of the most exciting sporting experiences one can have. In Australia we don't take it as seriously as our American friends but where I went to school we most certainly did.

Wirreanda High School was a relatively new school in the burgeoning southern suburbs of Adelaide and luckily for me it had one of the states only Specialist Sports programs. http://www.wirreandahs.sa.edu.au/special-programs/specialist-sport.html

On top of the compulsory PE lessons you could opt to specialise in both a Summer and Winter sport and would have 5-6 lessons per week instead of the usual class based stuff like History, Geography etc ... Awesome!!

Initially I chose Athletics and Soccer - I was the 3rd ranked triple jumper in the state at one point plus a bit of an all rounder in hurdles and middle distance running. Also Soccer was the sport I was best at so that got the winter nod initially.

But it was around this time (Year 10) that I decided to make the switch into hoops. The great thing with the Specialist Sports programs is you got elite level coaching whilst at school. For Aths we had Gary Zeuner an Australian champion 3000m steeplechaser for BBall we had local district coaches and got to have some of our lessons at Morphett Vale Stadium home of the Noarlunga City Tigers. It helped breed one of the greatest collection of High School teams in SA history ...
________________________________________________
1990 - year 10 I did not make the Open team. That year we started:

Brett Wheeler - NBL veteran 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brett_Wheeler
Grant Yates - Tigers ABL, one of the greatest dunkers of all time + played a few games of NBL (Canberra)
Wade Hampton - Sturt ABL
Billy Hopkins, Wayne Chapman, Matt Walkley - Tigers ABL 
Wayne Petingill, Phil Cole & Shane Hampton - District Juniors 

The 1990 team finished 3rd in the National High School Championships losing to Brisbane team that featured a number of future NBL players

____________________________________

Tigers Mens team a few years later - a few Wirreanda boys 

1991 - year 11 I trialled made a few cuts but did not make the final Open team. That year we started:

From 1990 Yates, Hampton, Chapman, Walkley 
Kim Jury - Sturt U18 Div1s - athletic freak who was dunking at about 13 years old
Heath Jury - Tigers U18 Div1s - future Tigers ABL player & coach
Brett Stewart, Brenton Wyatt - Tigers 18 Div 1s
Rory Duggan

This team won the National Championship in Perth beating local powerhouse Willeton High School (they too have a Specialist Basketball course). Missing out on this team always annoys me.

________________________________________________
1992 - year 12 I finally made the team!!

92 Wirreanda - good old parachute material & sponsorship to boot

We got through the knockout rounds in fairly easy fashion - I was the 7th or 8th man coming in for spot minutes in a deep team. We had made the round robin finals and the excitement at the school was building - I remember being able to hand in assignments late using basketball practice as a handy excuse and most of the teachers were onboard. Much to my parents disgust I spent pretty much most of year 12 on the basketball court - and when I say most I mean hours and hours per day in lieu of Maths, Physics, Chemistry & Economics!!!


To be continued ...