Playing at Tauranga in New Zealand, the Goldminers were represented in three Australian Country Cup outfits.

Masters coached the under 14s girls side which included new Goldminer Olivia Barber, Olivia Doble was a member of the under 16s girls outfit and Will Cranston-Lown was in the under 16s boys team.

The 14s girls and 16s boys both finished the tournament with silver medals, while Doble and her team-mates snared a bronze.

Given the physicality of the regional New Zealand teams that were their rivals and that they were playing up age divisions, it was an impressive performance from the Bathurst talents.

“What we do is pick our teams from the Australian Country Cup Championships which were staged at Albury in January,” Masters said.

“In the Pacific Rim Championships our under 16s played against under 17s sides and the under 14s I coached played up an age division as well.

“The Kiwis are just a bit more physical than our sides. They were kind of like the All Blacks – and that was just the girls.

“The referees let them get away with more, too, than our guys would get away with back here, but that’s just the style they play over there, that is their normal way.”

Though the opposition may have been tough, the Tauranga facility was state-of-the-art. It featured six courts in one hall and an impressive show court where stands could be removed to provide room to play.

Masters went as far as to rate it the best at which he has worked in his long coaching career.

“It was the best stadium I’ve ever coached in. They had nine courts and the stadium was worth something like $36 million – it was just unbelievable,” he said.

“I wish they had something like that in Bathurst.”

Masters was delighted not just with the success of the Goldminers who attended the Pacific Rim tournament, but with getting the chance to coach at under 14s level at an event of this standing.

“Under 14s play a very different style of basketball to the under 16s and under 18s. They play a different sort of defence because they are usually playing against people who can score from the outside,” Masters said.

“But in New Zealand they had dominant players, so the girls had to learn how to defend players rather than a team and make sure those players couldn’t drive inside the key.

“They did well to get the silver. In the finals we played against a girl who was in the New Zealand national under 16s side and she could have easily made our Australian team. 

“She was very, very talented and her sister is in the Tall Ferns, so she is coming from a pretty good pedigree.”

As good as those results were, there was even better news for Cranston-Lown on Tuesday when he was named in the NSW under 16s side.

Masters said it was a good reward for the shooting guard, who has progressed from under 12s Goldminers representation to the state outfit.

“It’s pretty good to make that side – they have won two gold medals the last two years and the side is mostly made up of coastal players,” Masters said.

“Will is the first player we’ve had in a boys state side for some time. They are usually full of players from Newcastle and the Illawarra.”

Cranston-Lown, Doble and Barber will be back in action for the Goldminers this weekend as the Western Junior League competition continues.