Sport

Twin towns jumping for junior jamboree

By Oliver Shedden

Sep 24, 2025

Archie Flanigan (middle) was one of three local participants at the Under-12 Country Jamboree. Photos: Jordan Townrow. Photo by JORDAN TOWNROW

Echuca-Moama Basketball Association played host to Basketball Victoria’s 2025 Under-12 Country Jamboree.

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The jamboree, which took place from Saturday, September 20 to Tuesday, September 23, is a key event in the junior basketball calendar, providing 120 boys and 120 girls with their first taste of the Victorian high-performance pathway.

The athletes were chosen from more than 1200 participants who took part in Under-12 Skill Days held across 10 regional centres.

Nicholas Philippoussis going for the contested layup. Photo by JORDAN TOWNROW

There were three players selected for the jamboree from the EMBA: Millie Reynolds, Sophie Frazer and Archie Flanigan, with fellow EMBA members Regan Smith and Emma Delmenico serving as a coach and a referee coach, respectively.

EMBA president Lisa Baker reflected on the event and her pride in seeing locals participating in the jamboree.

Lachlan Smith shoots over Ring Riak. Photo by JORDAN TOWNROW

“All the kids played five games over those four days, they had training, and they did some activities with their teams and pretty much just made friends for life really,” she said.

“It was really good to see Archie, Sophie and Millie participating, they had an absolute ball, they were exhausted afterwards, but no, they really had a good time.”

The Kookaburras girls team does a dance. Photo by JORDAN TOWNROW

Baker also reflected on the event as a whole and the positive reaction the event received from all who journeyed to Echuca-Moama for the four-day extravaganza.

“It was an excellent event, there were a lot of people here, which is awesome for Echuca-Moama, and everyone looked like they had a great time,” she said.

“We had a good set of volunteers, we got a lot of positive feedback about how smooth it ran and how much they enjoyed playing here.”