Stephanie makes Gliders team
Woy Woy basketballer Stephanie Van Leeuwen has been selected for the Australian Women's Wheelchair Basketball team, the Gliders, which will contest the Osaka Cup in Japan from February 1 to 5.
Long-term Australian representative Liesl Tesch, also from Woy Woy, will not be playing in the tournament this year.
Ms Van Leeuwen will make her debut appearance for Australia, after attending a camp held at the Australian Institute of Sport over four days in early January where selectors picked her for the team to go to Osaka.
Ms Van Leeuwen suffers from myopathy which she said had only recently been classified, but she had played for the Sydney University Flames wheelchair basketball team for three years.
"I really enjoy playing and find the other team members very inspirational," she said.
Ms Van Leeuwen has been playing alongside Ms Tesch, who is Australia's most-capped wheelchair basketball athlete.
The Gliders are the two-time reigning title-holders in Osaka and will be joined in this year's tournament by USA, Canada and Japan.
Email, 29 Jan 2011
Noel Rowsell, Parramatta Basketball Association
Email, 31 Jan 2011
Stephanie Van Leeuwen