By Nicole Stevens, Fremantle-Cockburn Gazette
MUNSTER sisters Monique (21) and Adriana Kickett (18) will play for Australia’s national indigenous basketball team the Spirits on their first overseas trip to Tahiti this week.
A group of players from Cockburn Basketball Association will make the trip, including Francis Clarke who joins the women and Nathan Webb who will play for the men’s side.
The four were selected following the National Indigenous Basketball Championships in Cairns last September.
Team manager Nikki Ridgeway said the Spirits would play a week of competitions against the best local sides in the Tahitian Basketball Association.
“We’re hoping to make new friendships and partnerships and see the two indigenous nations working together,” she said.
“It will be great for the kids to see there are avenues available to them to tour internationally and it will encourage them to apply for regular Australian leagues.”
Ms Ridgeway said players arrived in Sydney on Thursday where they would stay one night and train at the new National Indigenous Training Institute in Redfern.
Most players, including the Kickett sisters raised funds to pay the cost of their flights so they could make their first trip overseas.
The Rotary Club of Cockburn and the Rotary Club of Melville each donated $500 to help the sisters.
Ms Ridgeway said the National Indigenous Basketball league was working on hosting the Tahitian team in Australian and expanding its overseas competition to play New Zealand and the US.