Lithgow’s Kade Inwood has packed his bags for a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to represent his country and play basketball on US soil.
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He will be jet-setting for Hawaii on Saturday, July 28, as part of the 19th annual Invitational World Youth Basketball Tournament.
Kade received an unexpected call up to the 14s Southern Suns team and he was looking forward to the contest.
When asked what he was most looking forward to about the trip, Kade said it was “just playing”.
It will be the Lithgow High School student’s first time overseas.
Kade has been part of the Lithgow Lazers since the Under 12’s competition and drew the attention of selectors with the Western Region Academy of Sport (WRAS). His WRAS coach, Grant Cole, was responsible for putting together the touring team.
“It’s basically the same team we took (to New Zealand) last year … but we’ve added a talented guard from Lithgow in Kade Inwood,” Cole said.
“He stood out in the [Western Region Academy of Sport] program I was involved in so we thought we’d give him the opportunity. Kade played at the Australian Country Cup too, he’s flown under the radar for a few years but he gets his opportunity now.”
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Cole labelled last year’s trip to Aotearoa “tough”, but he said he’s expecting this tournament to be another level altogether.
“You could say that,” Cole laughed.
“It’s a basketballing nation so I think they’ll be a bit tougher but it’s still a bit unknown really. We know they’ll be good, but how good we’re not sure.
“Basically we want to go over there and compete … if we can compete I’ll be happy, and we want to learn a bit more about the culture of Hawaii, have some fun, meet some new people, all that kind of thing.”
Kade was expecting the competition to be tough, with California and Hawaii among their opponents in the pool games, and he has been putting in plenty of work in the lead-up, practicing every day of the school holidays.
Kade thanked Adam Marjoram for his guidance, David Swift and coach Grant Cole, as well as sponsor Springvale Union for its support.
