Columba College Year 10 student Alexa Duff is a rising talent in many sporting arenas; this time she has gained NZ Rep status on the basketball court!

On the 10th of October 2021, Alexa was invited to join the New Zealand team to participate in the FIBA U15 Women's Basketball Skills Challenge in Christchurch.

The challenge is for national teams from across the world. All teams had to qualify at a regional qualifier event earlier in the year.

The skills challenge was introduced last year as a development tool for national organisations when FIBA international competitions weren't able to go ahead because of Covid restrictions.

Countries compete remotely against each other and the results are only published once both teams have completed the challenge. The round is completed when the fifth player finishes the challenge and the team with the lowest score wins the round. The score is based on the time it takes to complete the challenge with points deducted for successfully converting shots or completing passes. The competition will be played from the 15th October till the 28th October.

The New Zealand U15 Women's team has currently beaten the Dominican Republic and Albania. They are set to take on the Netherlands in their last pool round before finding out if they advance to the final phase.

Alex said: “I was very excited to be selected to participate in this year’s FIBA U15 skills challenge. The challenge itself was tough but I had heaps of fun. Six other girls from NZ also joined me in making the team and they were all so nice, we got along really well. Although the challenge was hard, we all pushed through and we've managed to win the first 2 of our games against the Dominican Republic, and Albania. Overall it was a great experience and I’m looking forward to seeing our teams final results.”

We wish you all the best, Alexa, and look forward to hearing the end results. A huge congratulations to you from our Columba College community - this is a real honour and we couldn't be more proud!