Massive coup for Hobart Chargers with one of the country’s most exciting talents headed south in 2020
The standing of the Hobart Chargers within the NBL1 landscape has been vindicated with a potential future WNBA player choosing the club to continue her basketball development.
Basketball
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ONE of the most exciting junior prospects in Australian women’s basketball is headed to Hobart next season.
In a massive coup for the Chargers, Shyla Heal — daughter of former NBA and Boomers great Shane — has signed with the club to play in the 2020 NBL1 season.
The 18-year-old is one of the hottest properties in the country, having already dominated at underage level on the international stage and establishing herself within the rotation at Bendigo in this year’s WNBL.
Heal was named MVP in the championship game at the 2017 FIBA under-17 Oceania Championship in Guam, while also guiding the Sapphires to gold at the FIBA under-16 Asian Championship in India.
In late 2017 she earned a spot on the All-Tournament Team at the under-17 World Cup in Belarus, and in July this year she made her debut for the Gems at the under-19 World Cup in Thailand, where Australia reached the final for the first time in 22 years before losing to America in overtime.
“Shyla is really one of the emerging stars in Australian basketball, she has dominated the international stage at the junior World Championships and is having an outstanding season with Bendigo Spirit in the WNBL this year,” Chargers women coach Mark Nash said.
“We’re really excited about what Shyla brings to us for NBL1 in 2020, but also really excited to be part of her development for the future, which is likely to include WNBA and hopefully Australian senior representation in the near future.
“It really is a huge coup for this club. The fact that she also has the confidence in our program that it’s going to help her further develop is really exciting for both us and also for Shyla.”
Heal, who is averaging 9.2 points in just over 22 minutes for Bendigo, was courted by a host of NBL1 teams, including Bendigo.
But the relationship between her dad Shane and Chargers men’s coach Anthony Stewart played a significant role in the teenager choosing Hobart.
“We really believe that she is absolutely the right fit for our club,” Nash said. “We were initially looking at bringing in an American point guard, but we are really excited about what Shyla can do leading the team.
“Every basketball environment she’s been in she’s just showed that level of toughness and competitiveness and we were really excited about what that means for our training environment here.”
Heal joins local shooting guard Sharna Thompson as the first official signings for the Chargers, who return to the competition after spending 2019 in recess.
The club is also negotiating to bring crowd favourite and proven league star Kathleen Scheer back to Hobart after the American played with Nunawading this season.
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