Cobram Anglican Grammar School student Riley Grant has been given the opportunity to go to the USA for the Playmaker AAU tour.
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From Yarroweyah to the USA, local basketball player Riley Grant is shooting for the stars, having been selected for the Playmaker AAU tour.
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Riley, 15, attends Cobram Anglican Grammar School and lives in Yarroweyah. His dream is to be a professional basketball player.
The tour gives kids the chance to travel to the USA, building experiencing playing basketball there and competing in AAU tournaments with top coaches and NBA skills trainers.
This program will give him the opportunity to be scouted by American colleges, but the opportunity doesn’t come cheap, with the family needing to raise $9000 by June.
Riley said he was shocked and excited when he received the offer to join the Playmaker AAU tour.
“I couldn't stop smiling,” he said.
Riley’s mum Christina Grant said he had only been playing basketball for two and a half years.
“He’s done exceptionally well,” she said.
Mrs Grant said Riley started playing basketball after she sent him to a holiday program in Euroa.
“Basically, he was just annoying me constantly talking about this stupid basketball video game and that's when I saw there was a holiday program for basketball...”, she said.
“I thought ‘I’ll get him off the PlayStation and send him to this program for a couple of weeks’ and it just took off from there.”
Riley is currently in the Victoria State Basketball Team as an emergency player and is in the state development program.
He is also a development player for the Shepparton Gators Big V team.
“It’s a semi-professional level team and he gets to train with a couple of people from America and New Zealand, so it's a very good opportunity as well,” Mrs Grant said.
“The path leading to this has basically been word of mouth... coaches talking to other coaches.
“We have one day off a week, so we travel every single day... I do 36 hours driving just to trainings, and that doesn’t include sitting at trainings and games.”
Riley has only been playing basketball for two and half years but is already in the Victoria State Basketball Team and Shepparton Gators Big V team.
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Mrs Grant said Riley didn’t have to formally apply for the opportunity, he simply “showed them what he could do and that was it”.
“It’s exciting,” she said.
“But it’s also like, ‘where am I going to get this sort of money for him to go to America on such short notice?’
“They leave at the end of July, and it’s a three-week trip, starting in LA and then going to Vegas, and they’re training at some of the top clubs, with some of the top coaches.
Mrs Grant said it was a huge opportunity for Riley to potentially earn a scholarship.
“And he could finish off Year 12 over there.”
To get Riley to the US the family needs to raise $9000 by June 1. The money would cover his flights, accommodation and all the tournaments and trainings.
The family has started a GoFundMe page in hopes they will be able to raise enough money in time.
So far, the page has raised about $1700 thanks to the generosity of the community.
“Everyone knows what the economic climate is like currently, so it’s very, very generous what people have already donated,” Mrs Grant said.
“It’s a huge opportunity for a kid who’s hardly played to be offered such a spot.”
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