SOUTH West teenager Shantelle Tassone has proven to be among the best junior netball talents in the country by being selected to play for Australia at the upcoming International Schoolgirls Netball Challenge in New Zealand.
The 15 year old from Mullalyup has been playing netball since she was five years old and plans to one day play for the Australian Diamonds.
The Schoolgirls Netball Challenge is held annually and sees promising young netballers put themselves to the test on the world stage.
Between May 3 and 6 at Auckland’s The Trusts Arena, the School Sport Australia side will face off in a series of matches against teams from a number of countries including New Zealand, Fiji and Malaysia.
Tassone, who secured her place in the team after turning the heads of selectors at last year’s School Sport Australia U15 Netball Championships in Sydney, said she was looking forward to joining forces with some familiar faces.
“It’s kind of exciting to be playing with some of the girls that I was playing against at the Sydney championship,” she said.
SWAS netball head coach Dale Nielsen congratulated the sharp shooter and goal attack talent on making it on to the School Sport Australia under-15 team.
“Shantelle’s selection in the Australian Schoolgirls team is a massive achievement in that she has been selected from thousands of athletes to represent Australian at such a young age,” she said.
“Shantelle is an accurate shooter who shows exceptional maturity every time she takes to the court.
“Her athleticism, determination and focus are just a few of her strengths.
“For the elite squads Tassone will need to get over 80 per cent of her shots in. Her current average is 85 plus.”
Tassone, who rates being chosen for the team as her “biggest achievement so far”, will have a chance to fine-tune her already impressive skills with her new teammates at an intensive three-day training camp before the competition gets underway.
With game play taking place at The Trusts Arena, Tassone and her teammates will have the chance to take in some trans-Tasman rivalry by watching ANZ Championship teams Northern Mystics and Adelaide Thunderbirds clash at the stadium.
