Our very own star basketball player, Graham Hunter (Community Development Worker) travelled to Manchester to represent Scotland at the Tri Nations Basketball tournament, helping the team to smash the competition there!
Home to the Manchester Lions, audience members at the 2,000 seater National Basketball Performance stadium were wowed by Graham and his team’s incredible performance with brilliant results as they triumphed against both England and Wales.
With Graham on board, Scotland’s Men beat England 101-79, then saw off Wales 121-43 to come out on top. Taking place on Saturday, June 21, watch his basketball highlights throughout the games in the video at the end of this article.
Still on a high from the action-packed weekend, Graham said: “To be chosen to represent Scotland at a national level again was incredible. The competition against England and Wales was fierce but it was honestly amazing, completely surreal to put back on a Scotland top after 17 years.
“The team was made up of old friends, past teammates and guys I played against for years when I was younger, so that was also great to see them all again.
“To have my dad down with me after recently beating cancer and a knee replacement made it all the more special and the fact my wife, kids and family were all watching back home supporting was a real boost for me.
“We had an incredible win over England and massive win over Wales beating them by 80 points. Such a great weekend I will never forget.”
A keen sportsman since his teens
Graham’s background has always been in sport from a young age, he played semi-professionally and professionally as well as representing Scotland.
He was previously Captain of his school basketball team and had the chance to play for Ukiah High School in Oregon, America in his teens.
At the age of 17 he was selected to represent the state of Oregon in the USA Junior Nationals, spent two years at the National Basketball Academy in Durham before winning an athletic scholarship to the University of Maine.
He also helped others to hone their skills in South Lanarkshire, setting up basketball development academies, doing work in schools and in communities via a streetball initiative and various volunteering projects with an employability focus.
It was this work that ignited his passion for communities, leading him to the work he is doing now in North Ayrshire with our Connected Communities team.
Graham encourages others to play sports locally
Our star player adds: “I still enjoy playing basketball locally. The current team I play in practices over at Greenwood Academy and with the help of KA Leisure, we have also been able to develop an adults social session and some of us are competing in the Strathclyde Basketball League – we’re currently top of the league winning 7 games and no losses.
“If you want to get more active, I would definitely recommend starting your own journey in sports as it really does have the ability to change lives – visit the KA Leisure website for more info on what is happening across North Ayrshire.”
On behalf of his team Connected Communities and everyone across NAC, we wanted to share a MASSIVE well done and congratulations on a stellar effort! What an achievement!
With Graham on board, Scotland’s Men beat England 101-79, then saw off Wales 121-43 to come out on top at the tournament held at Manchester’s National Basketball Performance Centre.
Graham said: “To be chosen to represent Scotland at a national level again was incredible. The competition against England and Wales was fierce but it was honestly amazing. We had an incredible win over England and massive win over Wales beating them by 80 points. Such a great weekend I will never forget. It really is completely surreal to put back on a Scotland top after 17 years.”