Te Puke basketball whiz Australia bound

Fairhaven School's Isaak Morgan has been selected for a NZ Under-12 basketball tour to Australia in November. Photo/Stuart Whitaker

Fairhaven School pupil Isaak Morgan is heading to Australia next month for a trip of a lifetime - but he hopes its just a trip of his lifetime so far.

The 11-year-old basketball player has his sights set on a much bigger and exciting journey - to take up an NBA contract. But right now that's a little way off.

In late November Isaak will head to southern New South Wales, then Melbourne, on the Basketball Pacific New Zealand tour 2017.

Isaak is fresh from playing for the Tauranga under-13 A grade team that finished second at the Northern Regional Championships during the school holidays, losing in overtime to Waikato Country A.

He was also part of the Fairhaven School team, coached by dad Danny Morgan and managed by mum Michelle Patterson, that won the local primary schools A grade competition which featured 67 school teams across six grades in the Year 5/6 age group.

Isaak has been playing basketball since he was 8, plays guard and says he took to the game because he liked bouncing the ball and shooting hoops.

"I love watching NBA basketball so it was natural for Isaak [to watch too]," says Danny.

"I guess it was when we started watching Stephen Adams as he began to make his mark in the NBA."

The pair also play basketball video games.

Isaak was selected for the Australian trip at the Pacific Jamboree in New Plymouth in July which was attended by 180 young players, coaches and referees.

"November is really another jamboree, with a tournament [in Melbourne] at the end of it," says Danny. "The kids will be put into squads for the tournament."

There will be some top-level coaches and some intense training sessions.

Isaak says he is looking forward to meeting new people, playing games and "learning new stuff".

The trip will cost around $1800. A donation of $500 has been received from Kiwicoast Lions Club and a similar amount was raised in a raffle to win a 10-person game at Paintball Extreme. The family is continuing to fundraise.

"It's been amazing, we have just been blown away by the support," says Michelle.

It's been an exciting season for Isaak and, as well as being chosen for the trip to Australia and the Tauranga under-12 A grade team, he also had the opportunity to train with the New Zealand Breakers when they played a pre-season game at ASB Arena.

While he was there, one of the pro players told him: "You don't need to be great to start, you just need to start to be great."

When he leaves Fairhaven at the end of this year Isaak will go to Tauranga Intermediate School, where he hopes to continue his basketball journey and get into the school's 2018 AIMS Games team.

Fairhaven School pupil Isaak Morgan will head to Australia to play basketball next month. Photo/Stuart Whitaker

In the longer term, he hopes to secure an athletics scholarship in the US with the ultimate goal of following Stephen Adams' footsteps into the NBA.

¦Basketball Pacific formed about 20 years ago as an inter-regional initiative with four northern basketball associations - North Harbour, Counties-Manukau, Hamilton and Whangarei. It has since extended to include Waitakere City, Thames-Valley, Rotorua and Tauranga basketball associations.