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Kilsyth Cobras junior, Sarah Haberfield, has been playing basketball since she joined in on the boys competition when she was 5. Turning 16, Sarah has developed through the Kilsyth juniors program and this year was invited to try out for the VYC women’s team. Acknowledging the jump in strength and speed of the game from u18’s to VYC level, Sarah came to see our basketball strength and conditioning coaches at Assist PT in Lilydale with the goal of improving her strength and athletic conditioning in order to improve her on court basketball performance. We started by developing a strong core base.
A strong core enhances your balance and stability and enables athletes to perform actions more efficiently as well as reducing risk of injury. With a strong base established and good range of motion we were then able to work with light loads of key, basketball specific movements.
Sarah’s program is specific to her strengths, weaknesses and goals, making sure movements performed were going to be most beneficial to her on court performance and getting her body ready for the future demands of senior basketball. I caught up with Sarah for a little chat to see how her training at Assist PT has influenced her game.
“Before starting my strength and conditioning training at Assist Personal Training in Lilydale I had very low energy and and felt weak on the court and struggled with upper body strength. After completing a full program and half way through my second, I’m feeling a lot stronger, fitter and more confident. In box out situations and contests around the floor I feel a lot stronger and find it easier to hold my ground. At the start of the year I was struggling with on court fitness but now find I’m running out a full game quite easily and the effort and energy I had in the first quarter is still there in the last. This strength and fitness has given me the confidence to chase down more loose balls and take more shots.” 
At the beginning of Sarah’s training we sat down and set her a few goals. What she wished to achieve with her training at Assist, this season and then long term goals both on and off the court.
This year her goals were to improve shooting, leadership skills, win the Vic Metro u18 grand final (currently sitting second with a 9 1 2 record) and increase cardio fitness so that she can complete a full game with ease. Next years goal was to average at least 10 minutes a game in the Kilsyth VYC team.
So far this season Sarah averages just under 12 minutes a game, including a stand out game against Ringwood earlier in the season where she got 34 minutes, something she wouldn’t have thought was achievable at the start of the year. Future goals for Sarah include continuing to improve her strength and fitness, being a starting player in the Kilsyth VYC women’s team averaging good stats, the potential to go to college and earn a training spot in the SEABL team.
