Former AIS athlete Hugh Greenwood has capped off a stellar performance this month at the under-19 FIBA world championship in Latvia after being named as one of the top five players of the tournament.

The 190-centimetre basketballer, who graduated from the AIS Basketball program last month, was thrilled to be selected in the All Star Five at the under-19 men’s world championship. He joined tournament MVP Jonas Valanciunas (Lithuania), Alexsandar Cvetkovic (Serbia), Dmitry Kulagin (Russia), and Jeremy Lamb (United States) in the all star line up.

For the tournament, he averaged 17.1 points across eight matches as well as four rebounds and 2.6 assists per game, shooting at 43.9 per cent from the field.

The Emus finished in sixth place overall in the tournament with a 6–3 record after losing narrowly 78–77 to the United States.

AIS Head Coach Ian Stacker paid tribute to Greenwood’s outstanding achievement at the world championships.

‘Hugh was identified at 15 and brought into the AIS to counter an interest he also had in Australian football,’ Stacker said.
‘He spent three and a half years on AIS scholarship and has transformed from a power forward to a point guard.

‘He had tremendous focus on improving his shooting leading into the worlds and was rewarded for all the hard work and time put in.’

Greenwood was a member of the AIS Men’s Basketball program from 2008–11. The program supported his training and development and transition to the elite level, and he has steadily progressed to become one of Australia’s best basketball players.

AIS Basketball continues to demonstrate its status as a premier training ground for world basketball talent. AIS Basketball has a strong tradition of providing a pathway for high performance athletes to compete in the US college system, with Greenwood joining New Mexico next year.

Greenwood has returned to home to join the Australian Boomers training camp on the Gold Coast. He will vie for a spot on the Boomers team taking on New Zealand in the Oceania championships.