AT THE age of 26, a local basketball player has realised her dream to play for the England women's team.

Katerina Syngellakis (pictured) played for the national senior team in two matches against Iceland over the recent holiday period.

England recovered after losing narrowly in Nottingham to win 66-63 in Sheffield, with a significant contribution from the Basingstoke player.

Born of Greek parents in London, she dreamed of playing for the national team since her pre-teen days.

The idea grew soon after she was recommended to take up the sport by a PE teacher when she returned to her parents' homeland for a three-year spell at the age of eight.

"I was the tallest girl in my class, so the PE teacher said: 'You should play basketball'," said Syngellakis.

"I went along to a club and I loved it."

When her family returned to England, her basketball took a back seat for a time.

"When I came back, there was not much basketball around," she said

She then had her first spell with her present club, Solent Stars, when she joined as a 14-year-old in Southampton, where she was then living.

It was probably in those formative years that her competitive instincts were nurtured because she was playing alongside boys until she went to university.

At Bristol University, she followed in her father's footsteps and gained a degree in mechanical engineering.

In each of her three years there she played for the British Universities team alongside some of the best players of her generation.

She was also captain of her university team for two years.

After university, she pursued her basketball dream by moving to France, where the standard is high.

She played for two national division two women's teams while studying for a second degree in energy management at Bordeaux.

Although she had played for England Juniors as a youngster from the age of 16 to 18, her time abroad took her out of the domestic national picture.

"I went abroad and lost touch with the programme," she admits.

Class, however, also wins through and last season the forward or centre helped Solent to promotion to division one of the national league.

Her scoring exploits earned the 6ft 1in player an invitation to England trials over three days this season at the English Institute of Sport in Sheffield.

Selection for the Iceland internationals followed swiftly and, now she is a member of the England squad, there will be regular monthly national training sessions with more internationals to follow in the summer.

"The majority of my life has been spent in the UK and I'm a British national so I'd always said 'I'm going to play for the national team, and England is where I live'.

"It was a long road to get my first senior England game."

Her height is an obvious asset in her sport.

"There are lots of tall girls in basketball, but I still manage to stand out," said the energy consultant who lives in Oakridge.

"I don't score that much, but I do collect lots of rebounds."

Both the games against Iceland were close.

"We lost the first game, at the Jesse Boots Basketball Arena in Nottingham, 72-67," said Syngellakis (pictured left).

"It was a close game, but we were disappointed to lose as we were leading at the start of the fourth quarter.

"We made a few mistakes that cost us the game.

"I didn't play a lot in this game and didn't score any points.

"We won the second game, at the English Institute of Sport in Sheffield, 66-63, in front of a crowd of 500 spectators.

"There was a very good atmosphere at the game and it was again a very close and exciting match.

"We were very happy to come away with the win after losing the first game so narrowly.

"I played a lot more in this game, scoring five points, getting a few rebounds, an assist and a blocked shot."

Last season for Solent Stars, Syngellakis averaged 13.5 points, 11.5 rebounds and 1.4 blocked shots in her 14 games played.

"I haven't been playing as well so far this season, with my averages after seven games at four points, four rebounds and one blocked shot a game.

"I am looking to improve my performance in the second half of the season.

"Our team is doing well in our first year in division one. Having won four and lost two in the league, we were fourth in the division before Saturday's home game at Fleming Park Leisure Centre in Eastleigh against the league leaders Rhondda Rebels."