He's in Standard 5, but six foot tall Brayson Williams might be on his way to becoming a Basketball prodigy through the guidance of the Conquering Lions Academy.
His coach scouted him for his prodigious height at an early age, and wasted no time getting him into training - which most recently met sending him to the Arnold Elite tournament in Texas where this team went 4 and 0.
Jomarie Lanza met him at the airport today when he returned. Here's her story:
We may be witnessing just the beginning of 11 year old Brayson Williams basketball career when he returned from the US today from participating in a regional series under Arnold Elite Basketball. It's an opportunity for young athletes like Brayson to expose themselves to high levels of competition and opportunities to be scouted. When we met the precociously tall pre-teen today at the airport he told us what that experience was like.
Brayson Williams, Belizean Basketball Athlete
"You know the experience was very good I won in the games and I feel very happy about it."
"You know the game was a lot faster than it is here and the competition was a bit tougher."
"And they train very hard in the states and yeah."
"I learned how to be disciplined I learned how to be more compatible and more coachable."
"It is my dream to be an NBA player and I want to accomplish that goal."
His coach reflected for us how much his student has improved since they first started training. He believes that Brayson does have the potential to build a strong career in basketball at elite levels.
Dianell Brackett, Coach, Conquering Lions Academy
"When we first got Brayson, Brayson had no level of experience with basketball. Brayson was always bigger than everyone if you notice he is only 11 and 6ft tall so Brayson was always the biggest on the court but Brayson had no coordination, Brayson could barely hold the ball and could barely shoot but throughout a period of time with me working with Brayson, Brayson started to feel more comfortable on the court then we can say through his hard work we can see the progress that he is making and here Brayson just came from a high level competition in the US and Brayson performed well, so as a coach I am very very proud of Brayson."
Brayson's team is now lined up for the Nationals in South Carolina, plus two tournaments still to come-Kansas City in March and Oklahoma in May.
