By ALEC ETHEREDGE | Sports Editor

CHELSEA – Shelby County player of the year and Chelsea High School sophomore Michaella Edwards has been invited to try out for the USA 16U National Team in Colorado.

This is an esteemed honor for the Chelsea girls basketball player who wowed us all during the 2016-17 basketball season. Edwards ended the season averaging a double-double with 29 points per game and 11.1 rebounds per game, which led to her being named to the Shelby County All-County First Team as well as the Player of the Year as just a sophomore.

Only 150 players from across the country are invited to try out for the team showing how rare the opportunity is and how elite of a talent she is at such a young age.

Having turned her commitment into a year-round effort, Edwards went straight from the high school basketball season with Chelsea to playing with one of the top travel ball program’s in the southeast, the Georgia Metro’s Elite 2019 Team. As part of this team she is getting to travel all over the south playing basketball with and against some of the best talent around the country.

The 150 players will try out for the team May 25-29 at the United States Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colorado as they look to be one of 12 girls to make the final roster

Edwards has set up a GoFundMe page at gofundme.com/michaella-edwards-basketball-2017 with a goal of raising $5,000 to help her with travel expenses and training to chase after a dream of a lifetime.

This was all her idea as she tries to help her parents save money for all of the sacrifice they have already given her.

“I am the oldest of four active children, and my parents have sacrificed financially to provide me with opportunities to follow my basketball dreams,” Edwards said on the page. “Every spare dollar and minute is given to the four of us as an ‘nvestment’ in our future. I wanted to attempt to lessen their burden with my expenses this summer especially with the newest opportunity in which I have been blessed.”

These next two summers leading up to her junior and senior seasons are vital to her dream of playing college basketball and she knows it is going to take everything she has.

“I am willing and ready to put in the time and effort to do what it takes to represent the USA this summer,” Edwards said. “I recognize that I have to make a commitment to train like never before. I plan on using a portion of the funds to secure a trainer and equipment to prepare me for the Trials. This commitment is very serious for me because I love this game.”