It was Kings versus Queensland!
Two Kings County middle school basketball teams took on some high-school–age hoopsters from Australia in Marine Park on Dec. 15. The Aussies towered over the younger Yankees from IS 208 — and wiped the floor with them — but the loss is meant to give the Brooklyn squads added edge, an educator said.
“Hopefully it will be a confidence boost for them,” said Max Seigle, the Marine Park school’s sports director. “They faced much larger opponents, and now they’re going back to playing kids at their own level.”
The Aussie Basketball Travelers is on a walkabout of the states, seeking competition from local secondary-school cagers, and Seigle had an in to get the Outback aces to drop by the Marine Park middle school.
“They normally do go to high schools, but, when I was younger, I was a student ambassador for America, and I lived in New Zealand and Australia,” said Seigle. “So, we were able to get them here.”
The games on Tuesday included a boys’ match (56–34, Aussies) and a girls’ (72–16, Aussies).
The down-under dunkers were are few years older than their Kings County competitors — and had a height and tactical advantage — but the Brooklyn ballers had chutzpah, Seigle said.
“[The Australians] had more of a passing style,” he said. “They ran pattern plays and really moved the ball around a lot, while our students are more aggressive — they play the game as they see it, while the other team is passing the ball around looking for the best opportunity.”
Afterwards, the young athletes joined each other for an multi-national dinner, during which they dined on classic New York delicacies, including pizza and curly fries that the middle schoolers’ parents made.
