A natural at the hoops

Maya Dove’s dexterity with a basketball was not lost on a scout from the Australian women’s wheelchair development squad. Despite taking up basketball just a year beforehand, Maya received a request to join the squad last year in the lead-up to the Kevin Coombs Cup. The week-long annual national tournament for junior wheelchair basketball was held last month, with Maya’s team claiming third place. The Whittlesea resident and Marymede Catholic College year 10 student said she was extremely proud of her team’s efforts. “We worked very hard and were playing against experienced opponents, some of them Australian Paralympic representatives, so to finish third was a great honour,” she said. When not representing the state, Maya, 16, takes to the court every Sunday with the Saints, who compete in the Kilsyth and Mountain District Basketball Association. … Lexi Cottee