Emily Matthews earns a Sydney University Flames basketball scholarship

THE rising stocks of Bathurst Goldminers star Emily Matthews continue to get higher and already the 17-year-old basketballer is turning heads at the top level.

Matthews has been accepted into the Sydney University Flames fold as a scholarship holder and will train with the Women’s National Basketball League side for the next few months on a regular basis.

After being selected to trial for a development squad with the Sydney club, Matthews was one of 15 girls picked out of 30 who made the cut.

For the last month she has been travelling to Sydney every Tuesday night and working under the tutelage of former Flames coach and current general manager Karen Dalton plus other members of the off-court staff.

“When we got the first email telling us that I’d been selected to trial it was obviously pretty exciting. To get picked in the final squad was just unbelievable,” Matthews said.

“We just went through a range of skill exercises and drills at the trials and luckily I did enough to get selected.”

The news for Matthews comes alongside her presence in a National Performance Program being run by Basketball Australia.

She was selected for that thanks to her performances with the NSW side at the Australian under 16s Championships.

Its means Matthews has a packed schedule, but so far she couldn’t be happier.

“It is pretty intense at their sessions but already I’ve learned a lot,” she said.

“At the moment the sessions are only being held until the end of the this year, but the initial email we got said that it would run over 2014-15, so I’m guessing it will continue into the new year as well.

“I haven’t had much of a chance to see whether the coaching and the work with the Flames is paying off yet, our summer comp here in Bathurst only starts tonight [last Friday].

“I am playing in what is called the D-League, or Development League, in Sydney every so often on a Sunday, but we’ve only had one game so far and that came right at the start of the training program.”

Already the squad has had the chance to see the tail-end of an actual Flames training session. They will also watch the side play occasionally in their WNBL campaign.

The purpose of the Flames’ program is not just to identify and nurture potential future playing talent, but also to help assist players off the court.

The partnership will offer higher education mentoring and assistance and point them towards tertiary studies down the track.

Dalton’s role in the program, as well as one of trying to improve the players’ skills and knowledge of the game, is also designed to show them what it takes if they want to make it to the top.

“And I definitely want to make it that far even after seeing how hard they have to work,” Matthews said.