Ranger takes on the world

By Justin Robertson
AIMIE Clydesdale never thought she’d be shooting hoops for her country.
The 16-year-old Dandenong Rangers junior recently competed in the inaugural FIBA U17 Women’s World Championship in Toulouse, France – one of 12 girls to represent Australia.
It was her first time to France. It was her first time playing for her country.
“It was really great experience playing the championships against other teams from around the world and wearing the Australian singlet with your name on the back,” Clydesdale said. “It was amazing to be apart of that.”
The Australians finished the world titles with four wins and four losses and in seventh place, smashing Spain in their final match 74-48. Interestingly the Aussies beat the US team – which went on to win the championships – in an early qualifying match, and lost to France in the quarter finals in front of 2,000 screaming fans.
“It was great to beat the Americans as they won the whole thing, but I think we were unlucky along the way not to go further,” Clydesdale said. “Beating Spain by as much as we did in our last game ended the championships on a high.”
The Endeavour Hills basketballer said her time in Toulouse was dominated by a heavy training and team schedule, with only pockets of time devoted to sight-seeing and time with parents. “We didn’t have much time to look around,” she said. “So a lot of the time the squad just hung out together and we got to spend some time with the other teams, like Canada and USA.”
Mum, Sue, said the French locals flocked to the Australian team to get photos with them. Even their competitors wanted to get in on the action. “Everywhere they went it seemed everyone wanted to take pictures of them, just because they were Australian,” she said.
Reflecting on the two-week trip, Sue couldn’t stop beaming about her daughter’s stellar achievement.
“Every time the national anthem played, I’d looked down and saw Aimie in her Australian gear and I have to say it was my proudest moment ever,” she said. “During the tournament you experience highs and lows but at the end when you look back at her achievement, it was all highs.”