By JARROD POTTER
VICTORIA Metro’s search is over after picking an under-18 rising-star from the Dandenong Rangers.
Lachlan Signal, 16, from Endeavour Hills, has powered through the selection trials to earn his spot in the under-18 Victoria Metro state basketball team.
Earning his place in the Australian Junior Championships has been the highlight of Signal’s basketball career so far and he had to work hard to make it after enduring a tough pre-selection, with the East Coast Challenge the peak of the practice schedule.
“It was pretty exciting – new feeling for me in my first year,” Signal said.
“Several try-outs then after all those tryouts we had a squad of 24-25 go to Sydney and had a tournament there (East Coast Challenge)… and then after that we had one more training session and a practice match and they select the team that night.”
Signal was also voted vice-captain of the team that will head to Ballarat in April to take on the rest of Australia.
The Dandenong point guard has been tearing up and down the courts since he was six as an Endeavour Hills Panther, but made the switch to Dandenong and the full-time focus to basketball soon after and hasn’t looked back.
“I’ve been a point guard since I started – it’s more of a height thing for me, not really a choice,” Signal said.
“Love the fast game… control the floor… I like having control over things most of the time, being loud and run the show.”
Signal wanted to thank his mum and dad for their support and his Dandenong coach Ricky Baldwin – who has helped improve his basketball and how to step up as a better player and person in general.
He hopes to start for the side and has been in the starting five so far through the practice sessions.
Victoria Metro is the reigning champion at the tournament for both the men’s and women’s championships and Signal had only one main goal to check off in Ballarat.
“Winning of course,” he said.
Dandenong Ranger Jack Perry, from Berwick, has also been selected in the team.
