From humble beginnings to a world wide stage, a boy from Gloucester is off to represent Australia at the Olympics in Rio.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
On Saturday July 9, Damian Martin found out he had been picked to be a part of the 12-man Boomers basketball squad before it was publicly announced on Monday. Damian started his basketball career at the Gloucester Recreation (Rec) Centre playing in the under 8s.
John (Tad) Parish started basketball in Gloucester in 1987 when he and his wife Maree leased the Rec Centre from the former Gloucester Shire Council. Tad coached young Damian along with several of the players fathers. Damian feels Tad, Pod Mulder, Mick Miller and Julian Schneider were instrumental in his development as a basketball player.
He says, “Tad would always open up the Rec Centre so I could get extra work outs in whenever I’d return home.”
Tad say he always thought Damian would make the Olympic team because he was a stand out player.
“He’s very talented, a great competitor, works very hard and is a good sportsman,” he says.
He's very talented, a great competitor, works very hard and is a good sportsman.
- Tad Parish
“Just a great guy. Even when he knew he was a better player then the other around him, he always played fairly.”
Damian played basketball here until he went to play under 16s with the Lake Macquarie Lightning.
“I only joined Lake Macquarie because we no longer had a Gloucester Rep team,” says Damian.
After a year of his parents driving him down for training, he decided to give up the sport and play rugby league for the Gloucester Magpies with his mates. A phone call from former NSW Institute of Sport (NSWIS) coach Rob Beveridge requesting a meeting at the McDonald’s in Raymond Terrace changed his life forever.
He played one season with NSWIS before getting an Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) scholarship. After playing for Newcastle Hunters under 18s in 2001, he moved to Canberra to take up the scholarship.
The Australian Boomers started practicing together for the first time after the official announcement on Monday July 11. As Damian plays point guard, he will be working hard to learn coach's game plan for team's offense plays. They played their first games as a team on July 12 and 14 against Pac-12 All Stars, some of the best United States college basketball talent, before heading off to Rio for their first game against France on August 6.
“It will give us time to learn how to gel as a team,” says Damian.
