Two of Port Augusta's best young basketballers, Laura Packard and Mia Grantham, will be heading off to Ballarat, Victoria, tomorrow (July 3) to represent South Australia Country in the under 18 National Basketball Championships.

The competition will span over eight days, and they will compete against metro and country teams from all over Australia and New Zealand.

Laura and Mia have been training consistently most weekends in Adelaide for the past three months, and were initially selected from a group of 25 players in March who tried out for the team.

Along with that, they also play in Whyalla on Monday nights and train Tuesday evenings with the DNSP High Performance squad in Port Augusta.

Part of their training also included a training camp in Minlaton and Port Vincent on the Yorke Peninsula over the weekend of June 21 to 22, which enabled the girls to become better 'off-court' mates and to compete together in aquatics and orienteering tasks.

Their coach is Stephen Patterson from Whyalla.

Taylor-Lee Breen from Whyalla has also made the team.

Laura and Mia have been playing combined basketball together since they were 11 years old, and have travelled to many centres to compete against very good teams, including the National Country Championships in Albury earlier this year.

However, these National Championships at Ballarat are the pinnacle of junior basketball, with the next stage being given the opportunity to play in State leagues, national teams or even achieve scholarships through the Australian Institute of Sport.

This year, both girls are juggling year 12 studies, so their commitment to their sport is even more incredible.

Laura, who has also been playing State netball for the past two years at National Championships in Melbourne and Perth, this year was selected in the 17 and under National Talent Squad for the AIS, but unfortunately the four-day camp was scheduled at the same time as the basketball.

Hopefully, she will gain another opportunity over the next couple of years.

Basketball competition commences on July 5 and concludes July 12.

Fpr further details on the championships go to www.sacbc.basketball.net.au