Bendigo Braves star Dyson Daniels continues to progress on his dream journey to become a professional basketball player.
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Following in the footsteps of father Ricky – who played college basketball for North Carolina State University – and brother Kai who also plays for the Braves, Daniels’ dream is slowly becoming a reality.
“For as long as I can remember I’ve always been playing basketball,” Daniels said.
Daniels was among 40 junior athletes who attended a development camp held at Basketball Australia’s Centre of Excellence.
“It’s always a lot of fun going to development camps because you compete against high level athletes and you can see what the possibilities are for the future.
“We undertook a lot of on-court drills based around what the Australian Boomers do for their training sessions.”
Basketball Australia development camps are considered to be the key avenue for young players to become professionals in the future.
Athletes also participated in physical testing, recovery training, practice games and individual coach feedback meetings.
"The Australian development camps are so important for juniors and provide a great opportunity for young players,” Daniels said.
The camp is used to identify future Australian Boomers and Chemist Warehouse Opals players, while also assessing the athletes as potential scholarship holders for Basketball Australia’s Centre of Excellence.
“It was a chance for them to have a good look at all of the players and choose who they would like to select for scholarships,” Daniels said.
This was the second experience for Daniels at a Basketball Australia development camp, having attended one in September 2018 in the lead-up to team selections for the FIBA Under-15 Oceania Championships, which were held in Papua New Guinea.
The Australian boys claimed gold at the Oceania Championships, winning the grand final over New Zealand 61-58.
“It was incredible to be given the opportunity to represent Australia at such a young age,” Daniels said.
After attending the four-day intensive camp at the Centre of Excellence, Daniels then returned to Bendigo to play for the Braves Under-18 Championships Boys at the Junior Classic.
The team made it to their division’s grand final but were defeated by the Ballarat Miners 54-68.
Daniels was an integral force for the team, scoring 24 points during the game.
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