Wiradjuri teenager Hugo Swan is off to the land of basketball dreams after being picked in a First Nations team that will compete in varsity games across the USA.<\/p>\n
He is one of 10 players from New South Wales, aged between 14 and 16, who will hit the court in the Amateur Athletic Union competition (AAU), a youth league that has been a stepping stone for some of the game’s biggest stars.<\/p>\n
“It’s a dream come true for me, as I’ve always wanted to play outside of Australia,” Swan said.<\/p>\n
“To do it at this age, I’m really excited.”<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Hugo Swan hopes this opportunity will open doors for him in the future. (ABC News: Rachel Holdsworth)<\/p>\n
PCYC NSW launched its first 100 per cent First Nations sporting pathways program “Indigenous All-stars” this year.<\/p>\n
The 16-year-old from Wagga Wagga was scouted from a pool of more than 400 basketball players at PCYC’s Nations of Origin event.<\/p>\n
“Once we figured out there were scouts there, we really ramped it up,” he said.<\/p>\n
The group then travelled to Sydney to find out who would end up in the final team.<\/p>\n
Swan said tensions were running high when it was originally thought the scouts would only pick eight players.<\/p>\n
“Once we heard the news they were taking 11, everyone was excited,” he said.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The team was scouted from a pool of more than 400 basketball players at PCYC’s Nations of Origin event. (ABC News: Rachel Holdsworth)<\/p>\n
Eleven boys were chosen, but only 10 were available to compete in the US.<\/p>\n
Swan was not the only Wiradjuri teenager selected.<\/p>\n
Jurrah Penrith is 14 and the youngest in the group.<\/p>\n
“It’s really good because I’ve got all the older ones [around me], they’re more experienced, and they can teach me so much more stuff,” he said.<\/p>\n
Penrith found his love of basketball at the age of four, after being inspired by his family.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Wiradjuri teenager, Jurrah Penrith, is the youngest in the team. (Supplied: PCYC NSW)<\/p>\n
“Me and my brothers and sister play it now, all in a rep team,” he said.<\/p>\n
“It’s just good that we have everyone in our family playing a high level of basketball.”<\/p>\n
Penrith said the love and support of his family kept him motivated.<\/p>\n
“I go to school, get off the bus and go straight to the gym and practice by myself, every morning.”<\/p>\n
‘No easy feat’<\/p>\n
But qualifying for the First Nations squad took more than a smooth jump shot.<\/p>\n
Each potential player needed a school attendance rate above 80 per cent, connections to local elders and PCYC, and no negative dealings with NSW Police.<\/p>\n
PCYC Coach Zach Maloney said to be picked from 400 basketballers was no easy feat.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The team will compete across the US for three weeks, including California and Utah. (Supplied: PCYC NSW)<\/p>\n
“These boys have done a really good job against the odds to be able to put their name forward,” he said.<\/p>\n
“It really gives the kids something to strive for, not only on the sporting fields and courts, but also out in the community and in their schooling yards.”<\/p>\n
‘Getting recognition’<\/p>\n
Swan said he appreciates the opportunity to represent his culture through sport.<\/p>\n
“We are actually getting some recognition in our sport.”<\/p>\n
Hugo Swan says it is a privilege to represent his Indigenous culture. (ABC News: Rachel Holdsworth)<\/p>\n
Swan said he hoped the opportunity would open doors to a career as a professional basketballer or a coach.<\/p>\n
“I can work anywhere in basketball, even supporting kids like me now. It would just be amazing.<\/p>\n
“I really want to prove myself to everyone and show how well I can do.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Wiradjuri teenager Hugo Swan is off to the land of basketball dreams after being picked in a First…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":371961,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[574],"tags":[64,63,726,4398,6830,85,201185],"class_list":{"0":"post-371960","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-basketball","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-basketball","11":"tag-first-nations","12":"tag-indigenous-australians","13":"tag-sports","14":"tag-varsity-competition"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/371960","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=371960"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/371960\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/371961"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=371960"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=371960"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=371960"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}