FROM Berwick Basketball Club all the way to a premier NBA training camp, Jayden Bubb has begun to turn heads internationally with his basketball.
The 18-year-old Berwick College student from Narre Warren South traded his textbooks for playbooks as he headed overseas for the Basketball Without Borders Asia Camp, held last month in Taipei, Taiwan.
Bubb was nominated by his BIG V coach Luke Sunderland at Southern Peninsula and his hard training sessions most mornings at the Andrew Bogut Basketball Academy helped get him a ticket to Taipei.
One of five Australians picked to attend the NBA-run camp, Bubb learned from the likes of former NBA legend Yao Ming and current Portland Trail Blazers player Nick Batum and excelled under intensive work outs and matches.
“It was crazy,” Bubb said.
“Went over there for a week and we had four days of just playing constant basketball from 9am to 5pm so it was pretty full on.”
Bubb caught the eye of the coaches and earned a spot in the All Star match, reserved for only the best 20 players at the camp which draws in players from across the Asia Pacific region.
“Playing in general was at a much higher intensity than back here in Australia – it’s so much faster,” Bubb said.
“I had the Trail Blazers’ coaches and player Nick Batum and they took me under their wing for the whole week and I learnt a lot of things from them.
“Yao Ming was there and showed me a few little pointers too.”
The camp is the first step towards the NBA for players outside of the North American system, with NBA coaches getting their first taste of what Bubb can do on-court.
“It gets your name out there,” Bubb said.
“Every NBA coach will have your profile, know who you play for and everything about the way you play – it’s to give the NBA a chance to see who you are.
His love of the sport will see him head across to America for college basketball next season, with Bubb hopefully heading to Iowa Community College.
“It means everything to me and I love it,” Bubb said.
“From the squeakiness of the wood on the hard floor … it’s easily the best game ever made … Easily!”
Bubb’s Southern Peninsula Sharks have a 13-4 record in Big V’s Division 1 Men’s competition and sit second on the ladder.
He wanted to thank his family, parents, his group of mates, affectionately known as ’Real Talk’, and Andrew Bogut Basketball Academy and Southern Peninsula Sharks’ coach Luke Sunderland for his help to guide him to this point in his basketball journey.
