The good news keeps coming for young basketballer Amy Kurkowski.
Kurkowski, a pupil at Lumen Christi Catholic Primary School in Point Cook, was already ecstatic to be representing Victoria at the School Sport Australia Pacific School Games Basketball Championships in December, then she was informed of her selection for Vic Metro at the Southern Cross Challenge in January.
“It’s a huge honour,” Kurkowski said. “I love Victoria, it’s amazing to play for them and represent my state and my school. It’s going to be a lot of fun and an amazing experience.”
Kurkowski began playing basketball at the age of eight with the Altona Gators.
It was not long before the Point Cook resident started to impress and make the leap into the Gators’ representative teams.
A move to the Melbourne Tigers, working under coaches Ray Tomlinson and Nick Abdicevic, saw her skills, work rate and discipline improve.
Kurkowski has been moulded into a player with massive potential and that was noticed by the Victorian selectors.
If there is one attribute that Kurkowski displays above all else, it is a high work ethic.
“I train every day for roughly two hours,” she said. “I play games on Saturday and on Friday.”
Asked if she suffered from basketball overload sometimes, Kurkowski replied: “Nah – I love it!”
Kurkowski dares to dream big. The 12-year-old wants to represent the Australian Opals and play in America’s WNBA.
She took inspiration from ‘that’ Liz Cambage dunk in the Olympic Games and watched on in awe as the Minnesota Lynx took out this season’s WNBA title.
Kurkowski loves to watch the Melbourne Boomers play locally and is keeping a close watch on the progress of western suburbs up-and-comer Monique Conti.
But if there is one player above all that Kurkowski looks up to, it is a Golden State Warrior.
“My role model is Steph Curry,” she said. “He just motivates me to keep going.”
Kurkowski plays in the same position on the court as Curry and they have similar attributes.
Kurkowski mixes her speed, shooting, ball handling and defensive skills to good effect and hopes to unleash her best when she represents the Big V.
“I like to lead the team as the point guard,” she said. “You’ve got to tell everyone what you’re doing, where you want them to go and just set up the plays.”
