Kai Croswell, Lachlan Hoobin and Harry Smith-Jones have come a long way from playing junior football together years ago.
The three, who are good friends have been selected for the Basketball Victoria Southern Cross Challenge metro squad for a tournament early next year.
The squad is the beginning of the high-performance pathway for identified athletes, coaches and officials, with all three going through a number of stages to be part of the squad.
Croswell and Hobbin have also both been named in the future development program, while Jones-Smith has been named in the state development program. Laiken Hall, another Sunbury basketballer, has also been selected in the state development program.
Croswell said he was really looking forward to playing with other talented basketball players and learning from everyone involved.
“It’s a privilege to be selected and offered a position to play in a High Performance Pathway Program offered by Basketball Victoria,” he said.
“The opportunity to expand my knowledge base, improve and develop my skills, get access to some of the top basketball coaches in Victoria and learn as much as I can from them.
“I want to use this development program, to help me identify and improve on my weak spots, to become the best basketball player I can be. ”
Croswell, who now plays representative basketball for the Keilor Thunder, started playing basketball four years ago. He follows in the footsteps of his dad who played Victoria when he was the same age.
Hoobin said he was honoured to be selected for the two programs with only about 50 players getting chosen. He said he knows the extra training and support will help him improve the next 12 months.
“When I saw that I was selected for SCC I was so happy and excited,” he said. “I had the opportunity to try out at a basketball camp and I was lucky enough to be selected for the next stage.
“It will be an honour to represent my state, club and family at this tournament in January. I can’t wait to play with kids from the country and other states.”
Hoobin, who now plays with Keilor Thunder, said he can’t wait to play for Vic Metro.
Smith-Jones said it was an exciting time being selected in both the development program and SCC. Smith-Jones started playing basketball when he was five at Sunbury with the Superoos and has played representative basketball since he was nine.
“Since my under-14.1 Sunbury Jets squad this year qualified for Victorian Championships I was able to try out at the metro future camp with my teammates,” he said.
“I am expecting to be pushed and develop new skills and bring my basketball to a new level. The SCC tournament will be a challenge to compete against interstate competitors at an elite level.”
All three boys are keen to play basketball professionally when they grow up.
