For Shannon Seebohm, it just has.

Days after signing with the South Dragons Seebohm has cause for added celebration this week, named to the under-19 Australian team to contest the 2007 FIBA World Championships.

“It’s awesome, it’s pretty much the ultimate achievement for my age group so I’m really happy about it,” he said.

The Emus line-up was announced early yesterday following last week’s final selection camp at the Australian Institute of Sport.

“At this camp there were 16 or 18 guys but there have been heaps (try out), probably about 30 or 40 all up,” Seebohm said.

“We had nine sessions at last week’s camp including two games against some older guys that have been playing in the NBL for a little while, like Joe Ingles and Brad Newley, who came to scrimmage against us.”

The 190cm guard said the opportunity to play against the likes of Ingles and Newley was an invaluable experience en route to the World Championships in July.

“It was tough, it was definitely tough but it was a good experience and it really showed us where we’re at at this stage of preparation for the World Champs,” he said.

Seebohm joins Ben Dowdell, Cameron Gliddon, Christopher Goulding, Daniel Jackson, Daniel Johnson, Ben Louis, Patrick Mills, Andrew Ogilvy, Kevin Probert, Ben Smith and Nate Tomlinson in a powerful Emus outfit set to take on the best young ball players in the world.

“The US and a lot of the European teams like Lithuania, France, Serbia and Croatia are definitely going to be the tough teams,” Seebohm said.

“The opportunity to go to a World Champs and see what it’s all about and compete against the best players in the world for my age will be amazing.”

Seebohm will soon embark on an intensive few months of travel aimed at World Championship success.

“In June we’re going to France for two weeks and then we return to Australia for two weeks and then we’re off to Spain to play in a small tournament and then it’s off to Serbia for the World Champs straight after that, so it’s a busy time ahead,” he said.

And for Seebohm, the break-neck route to basketball glory looks only set to continue.