By RUSSELL BENNETT
BERWICK’S Sophia Locandro is poised to stand head and shoulders above the local basketball community if her rate of growth, and improvement, keeps up.
At just 12-years-of-age, the St Margaret’s Grade 6 student is already a veteran of the Dandenong Rangers representative system and she’s already pushing six-foot-tall in the old scale.
She has the round-ball world at her feet, and in just a few short weeks will jet across the country to Perth for the School Sports Victoria national basketball championships from 17-23 August. Yet she couldn’t be much more grounded.
Recently asked to describe just why she adores basketball so much, her answer was simple.
“I loved shooting goals to start with, but I really love being a part of a team.
“I like that better than just an individual sport – winning means more.”
Sophia first started playing after at just seven years of age after seeing her older cousins getting so much enjoyment out of the sport.
She now plays like someone well beyond her years in the post for the Dandenong Rangers under-14 first team and works relentlessly on her craft. She estimates that she spends more than 10 hours per week trying to improve her game.
Her biggest attributes are her offensive post moves, footwork down low, rebounding and shot-blocking, and her all-around defensive effort.
But she’s the first to put her hand up and say she needs to work on her strength if she’s to continually battle down low with opponents even bigger than her.
When she tried out for the School Sports Victoria team, she was the third tallest – a sobering thought.
But Sophia’s 2013 hoops goals don’t end there. Her Rangers team has also qualified for the nationals in Ballarat from 30 September to 5 October and Sophia is hoping she and her team-mates can finish in the top five.
There’s that team-first attitude again.
