Grace McRae, Williow Smith and Cody Wright will all take part in the CDT, along with Kobe Mansell, while Zak Simons and Jay Cole will contest the AJCBC as part of the NSW Country under-16 side – the latter three are Orange natives, but are now playing with the Bathurst Goldminers.

Wright and Mansell will both be in the under-17 men’s division at the CDT while McRae and Smith made the grade in the under-15 women’s category.

“[We’re] very proud to have had players selected in these carnivals for the last few years,” Orange District Basketball Association secretary Michelle McRae said.

“The AJCBC is generally for top age athletes in the under-14, under-16 and under-18 age groups, the CDT is a development camp and caters for the bottom age (under-15 and under-17) players.”

Wright, McRae, Smith and Mansell will head to the CDT in Newcastle on January 8 and for the three ensuing days, will play one or two games a day, with daily team training and development sessions thrown in along with lectures on nutrition, strength and conditioning and recovery.

“(They’ll also have) presentations and training by elite guest coaches (and) teams will have eight or nine players, to maximise court time,” Michelle McRae said.

Simons and Cole will join their country teammates in Albury and Wodonga the following week. The two NSW Country sides there – the Waratahs and Kookaburras – will compete with South Australia Magpies, Victoria Goldminers, South Australia Sharks, New Zealand Kea, Tasmanian Tigers, New Zealand Weka, Victoria Bushrangers and Tasmanian Devils.

They’ll also be vying for places in the Australian Country Cup side, which will play in New Zealand’s Mel Young Easter Classic.