The best of Australia’s young female slam dunkers were selected today to compete in a new and exciting basketball competition at the Youth Olympic Games in Singapore next month.

Victoria’s Olivia Bontempelli, Rosemary Fadljevic, Hannah Kaser and Queensland’s Mikhaela Donnelly will take on the world's best in a fast and furious 3-on-3 basketball tournament.  

The girls will compete on a half court with one hoop and win the game if they are the first to reach 33 points or have the highest number of points after the allocated two x 5 minutes halves with a 10 second shot clock.  

Donnelly, a former Under 17 Australian representative, is excited to try the rule variations at the Youth Olympics, acknowledging they will test the most talented young basketballers from around the world.

“It will be an amazing opportunity to compete for Australia and with all the rule changes it will be something completely different,” she said.  

“The game will obviously be a lot quicker. We are going to have to create shots more quickly, with less passing. There will be more one on one, different skills used and we will all have to play every position.”

There will be plenty of motivation for the team with Australian basketball royalty Andrew Gaze and Michele Timms making the journey to Singapore as Athlete Role Models.

“It will be amazing to have them there,” Donnelly said. “To have people who have played at that level watch us is awesome.”

Donnelly will have the opportunity to play against her idols when Gaze and Timms join Brazilian star Oscar Schmidt and Yugoslavian international Aleksandar Djordjevic in a series of skills tests. The veterans will lace up their boots to take on the world’s most promising talent.

 Australia has been placed alongside Chile, France, Japan and Italy in Group D with the top two teams from the round-robin group stage progressing to the quarter finals.

“We definitely have a great team as we all have different strengths,” Donnelly said. “We have all played together before and we are all really close friends, so hopefully we can win.”

The Youth Olympics provides the opportunity for young athletes to experience a multi-disciplinary international competition. Donnelley is hoping to use the tournament as a platform to pursue a career in basketball.

 “My first goal is to win this tournament,” she said.

“After the Youth Games, I am moving to the AIS in September. My long term goals are to make the Under 19 Team for Oceania and then the World Championships in 2013. I definitely want to play for the Opals when I am older.”

The basketball competition takes place at Scape Youth Space, situated in the heart of Singapore’s iconic shopping district Orchard Road, beginning on August 15 and running through to August 23.  

Matt Bartolo
AOC