BASKETBALL - Head and shoulders above the rest

Pero Cameron remembers making his debut for the New Zealand Tall Blacks basketball team, the trouble is not many of his current team mates can recall the announcement made 16 years ago.
Back then, Cameron was a strapping 18-year-old who had made a name as part of the Auckland Stars basketball team and was named alongside players such as Glen Denham and Chris Tupou.
He called them sir, listened a lot and said little.
"When I first made the team we had a couple of games against Magic Johnson. Guys like Denham, he was the captain, and Tupou and Ralph Lattimore.
"Not many of the team now would know who those guys are. They probably would never have heard of them," Cameron says in his unnerving slow-paced drawl.
"That's a lifetime ago for me, for sure. It is a long haul," he said.
These days Pero Cameron is referred to as "Mr" and when he talks, his colleagues in the Tall Blacks pay attention.
Such deference occurs when you have played more than 120 tests, attended two world championship tournaments and won a Commonwealth Games silver medal while playing for your country.
We should mention here the eight national titles to his credit, the latest secured at the weekend, a few days after Cameron celebrated his 34th birthday.
Not bad for the boy from Portland Primary School whose love for basketball was sparked by the enduring dedication to the sport of his mother, Mata.
"Things have changed now as a Tall Blacks basketballer.
"I remember the days when we would get named in the squad and head off on these hell tours across the (United) States with an $8 meal allowance, play one day, travel for eight hours by bus, then play again," he said.
"I can kind of look back and then have a look around me these days and, yes, the talent and the athlete we have got is better, but they have got the resources thrown at them, too. But it comes with the hard work we did those years ago.
"Playing the big tournaments is important, it is what keeps a player like me going."
So being the senior statesman in the team doesn't mean the competitive fire burns any less fiercely. Cameron has rekindled his, just in time for the Tall Blacks' final hurdle to try to qualify for the Beijing Olympics.
"Wherever you play on the world stage it is going to be tough opposition, but it is where you want to play.
"I don't want to be playing against universities all over the United States any more, playing 10 games in 12 days.
"I want to go to the big tournaments all over the world, which includes the Olympics.
"If have to pick out one (career) highlight, that world championships in Indianapolis, where we did well and I made that tournament team, is one, but while I'm still playing, hopefully there's another to come."
The Tall Blacks face the Australian Boomers at the North Shore Events Centre, tonight, before travelling to Melbourne for the Al Ramsey Shield decider on Saturday.
They then head to Canada and Europe for more warm-up games before landing in Greece for the final FIBA Olympic qualifying tournament.
In Greece, the Tall Blacks meet Cape Verde and Germany in pool play before heading into sudden-death to win one of three remaining spots still available for the Beijing Olympics.
Nine teams have already booked their tickets for the Olympics, Angola (African Champion), Argentina (Americas runner-up), Australia (Oceania Champion), China (host), Iran (Asian Champion), Lithuania (European Bronze medallist), Russia (European Champion), Spain (World Champion) and the United States (Champion of the Americas).
The remaining three men's berths for the Olympics will be decided in this 12-team FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament that will feature Cameroon and Cape Verde (Africa), Puerto Rico, Brazil and Canada (Americas), Lebanon and Korea (Asia), Greece, Germany, Croatia, and Slovenia (Europe) and New Zealand as the Oceania representatives.
* THE PERO FILES One Commonwealth Games Silver Medal (Melbourne 2006)
The only New Zealander Named in a World Championship Tournament Team (2002)
Was the Maori Sportsman of the Year in 2002.
Has won Eight New Zealand NBL titles (six with Waikato, two with Auckland)
Is a Five-times New Zealand MVP (1993, 1994, 1995, 1997, 1999).
Presented with a Sparc Leadership Award (2003)
Multiple winner of most outstanding NZ forward (1994, 1995, 1996, 1998, 1999).
Included in the New Zealand NBL All-Star Five Seven times (1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2001).
More than 120 tests for the Tall Blacks.
Tall Blacks Debut in 1994.
Attended two Olympic Games (Sydney 2000, Athens 2004) Played in Two world championship tournaments (2002, 2006).
Born in Tokoroa.
Raised in Whangarei.
Schooled at Portland Primary, Whangarei Intermediate and Whangarei Boys' High School.