BENDIGO Braves junior teams will shoot for another strong showing on their home courts this weekend.
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Twenty-two Braves teams will do battle against representative teams from across Victoria - and some from interstate - in the annual Bendigo Basketball Junior Classic.
The Braves claimed wins in four divisions last year, including the under-18 girls' championship, under-18 boys' divisions one and two, and under-21 men's.
A further three teams reached grand finals.
Bendigo basketball director of coaches and athlete development Joe Hurst is hoping for a similar, if not better, result this weekend.
He predicted ultra-competitive performances from the Braves' top squads across all age divisions.
"All of our squads have been travelling well throughout their tournaments, progressing from Swan Hill back in October to the subsequent tournaments," Hurst said.
"I feel everyone has improved as we have gone on, and we probably had our best outing in Shepparton a bit over a month ago.
"Each team has taken away some learning experiences from the past tournaments, as have the coaches. I think we are going from strength-to-strength in developing our athletes.
"This tournament, coming at the end of the school holidays and being the first one of the year, gives everyone a chance to run themselves back into some form."
The three-day tournament starts on Saturday and ends Monday afternoon.
An intriguing entry this year will be a Western Australian team, coached by former Bendigo Brave championship star Shawn Redhage.
Among the throng of Braves striving for success this weekend is Jacaila Dettmann.
The 13-year-old will line-up for the the under-16 girls' division one side, which is coached by Sharna Appleby and rounded out its preparation with a warm-up match against the Braves' Big V youth league team earlier this week.
"We were winning that game at one point, so we do have our good days," Dettmann said.
"I was lucky enough to make the youth league team at a young age and we asked whether we could play a game against them just before the tournament and they said yes.
"They obviously won in the end, but we did pretty well which is a good sign for the weekend.
"We had a tournament a few months ago, which we made the grand final and lost, but for most of us, that was our first tournament together.
"We've come a long way since then and are all getting used to each other."
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