Perth Wildcats announce Wildcats Academy for local youth prospects

The Perth Wildcats are excited to announce the newly established Wildcats Academy.

The Wildcats Academy has been introduced to help identify the top basketball prospects in WA, Australia and New Zealand, while providing the environment and structure to help develop selected athletes into potential future players for the Perth Wildcats.

Emerging athletes from 14-19 years of age, with an emphasis on local Indigenous and African juniors, will be given the opportunity to be selected into the Wildcats Academy and develop under the Wildcats system by Wildcats coaching and performance staff.

The Academy will also be used to help play an active role in the WA community, promoting basketball participation and pathways, and a healthy and active lifestyle for youths.

Thanks to the City of Stirling, Wildcats Academy training sessions will take place at the Herb Graham Recreation Centre in Mirrabooka.

The Wildcats Academy will initially be recruiting 20 young athletes, including up to 10 African players selected in collaboration with the Rhino’s Basketball Club.

Perth Wildcats Head Coach John Rillie said the Academy will be a great opportunity for budding basketballers to achieve their dreams of playing in the NBL.

“With the launch of the Wildcats Academy, it presents opportunities for the youth of Western Australia to showcase their talent in front of the Wildcats staff,” he said.

“Danny Mills has done a great job of providing avenues for all budding Wildcats to have the opportunity to live out their childhood dreams and aspirations. 

“This pathway will allow these future stars to be coached by members of the Wildcats staff, Keegan Crawford is a rising star in the NBL coaching ranks and will head the program, his passion and enthusiasm for the Academy was felt upon my arrival in Perth.

“I look forward to tapping into the talent that is across this state, I know the next Andrew Vlahov or Luke Travers is out there.”

Perth Wildcats General Manager of Basketball Operations Danny Mills said a big focus of the Academy is to help identify pathways for young, local talent.

“The opening of our own Wildcats Academy has been over a year in the making, with a lot of thought and planning going into what the underlying structure and vision is, and how can we best impact the WA and Australian basketball community in general by playing our role in helping to identify and develop the top young talent in the state and country,” he said.

“Expanding our reach to have a focus on helping to carve out pathways for talented young Indigenous and African players who are in the need of opportunities to develop their game, by providing them resources and facilities to where they can do that, is a key part of our Academy’s core values.

“As we begin to identify and select the inaugural class of athletes for our first Academy practices next month, we are extremely excited about the impact the Academy will have on these young players lives on and off the court through the professionalism and tutelage of our Academy Coaching staff led by Keegan Crawford and overseen by John Rillie”.

The Wildcats Academy will be ‘invite only’, with athletes hand selected by Wildcats head coach John Rillie, Wildcats development coach Keegan Crawford, General Manager of Basketball Operations Danny Mills and additional Wildcats coaching staff.