Leaping high for basketball

Wesley College’s Charlise Dunn has been awarded the 2015 Victorian School Sports Individual Blues Award for outstanding achievement in Basketball. Now in Year 7 at the Glen Waverley campus, Charlise has gone from strength to strength in basketball, since starting to play at the age of nine.

The awards ceremony was held Tuesday 15 March in the Members’ Dining Room at the Melbourne Cricket Ground with her parents on hand to witness the presentation. Charlise was presented with her award by seven-time Olympian and Basketball Hall of Fame legend, Lindsay Gaze.

“Shooting the hoops” runs in the family, with Charlise’s father Gary playing basketball since his school years. Charlise now has a busy playing schedule, with an average of nine hours training and three games per week including playing for Wesley College’s First Girls’ Basketball team.

Charlise says, “I have been very fortunate to have had much success in my sporting career to date. I do not have a single highpoint but many key milestones, all of which have special memories for different reasons. As a member of the Knox Raiders Basketball Club, I hope to play for the Australian Opals one day and ultimately in the WNBA competition.

Playing at the highest level, I have won medals at all eight state and national basketball championships in which I have competed, this includes representing Victoria on multiple occasions and winning gold with TeamVic at the Pacific School Games in November 2015.”

Apart from basketball, Charlise enjoys Maths at school, volleyball in the summer and also hanging out with friends and shopping. Her idols include WNBA basketballer Rebecca Allen, with Charlise noting, “The way she plays, her athleticism and despite not being the tallest player, has a great leap and can dunk the ball.”

We congratulate Charlise on her wonderful achievement and wish her well for this basketball season.