Former Coffs Harbour Junior on her way to basketball dream

Who'd have thought, all of those years ago, that a small girl taking the court in the CHBA Primary School competition for St Augustine's would one day be playing for Australia and this year taking up a scholarship at the Basketball Australia National Centre of Excellence [NCE] at the Australian Institute of Sport.

That's the Lizzy Tonks story; born and raised in Coffs Harbour, started playing in our Primary School competiition and then went on to be a Suns Rep.

In later years her schooling took her to Sydney where she attended Loreto College at Normanhurst and played her representative basketball with the Norths Bears - winning a State Championship in 2014 in the U18's division.

The invitation to the NCE is the result of her participation in the Ausutralian Junior Camp early last year and trials in Canberra last July.
Selectors have had a few chances to assess Tonk's potential as she has been a member of the Basketball Australia U17 and U19 squads which participated in the Oceania Championships to qualify for the World Championships.

Life has not all been smooth sailing for Tonks. Her school and basketball development meant moving away from her family and friends in Coffs Harbour, which Lizzy admits was initially hard, but had its own rewards.
In 2013 Tonks missed out on selction in the Australian team to contest the World Champs in the Czech Republic.
The advice given to Tonks was that if she wanted to be a point gurad for an Australian team, she needed to shoot more and that is a part of her game she has focussed on.

Her invitation to the NCE is a confirmation that others believe she has the potential to play for her country at a senior level - it's a path followed by almost all the Australian Opals for many years now.
She will certainly be taking a step up in competition as the NCE team at the AIS competes in the SEABL competition and this will help Lizzy work on her game under pressure conditions.

When she spoke recently to Coffs Basketball, Tonks said she hopes to continue her basketball development at the NCE with the aim of playing basketball professionally, while at the same time completing her schooling in Canberra.

An overseas playing career is in her sights, perhaps initially at college.
On the basketball front, her dream is to play for Australia at the Olympic Games.

If she gains a place in University she hopes to study in the sports area.

When asked to provide any advice to young basketballers just starting out, Lizzy mentioned that in Primary and junior High School she played other sports besides basketball, but made the decision to concentrate on basketball when she started to be noticed in our sport.
However, it was not until she was playing in the Suns U16's that she really became serious about her basketball.

Her advice for anyone wanting to reach the top is practice often and with intensity and to push yourself, even when you don't get picked for a team you think you should have made.
Tonks has followed her own advice spending most of her summer holidays on the courts at Sportz Central getting ready for the next stage of her basketball career.

Lizzy acknowledges the role played by CHBA representative coaches in helping her to become the basketballer she how is.

All of us at CHBA wish Lizzy the best for 2015 and hope she can live her dream.
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