Garrick Knight from Ngāpuhi is on his way to realising his dream of playing in the NBA. He's been accepted into the Impact Basketball Academy in Las Vegas where he will hone his skills and work towards securing a scholarship at a College in the States.
He also had a small job of fundraising $25,000 to pay for the Academy.
"It started about three months ago and it started off as a big dream," says Knight.
That determination has paid off. Knight has raised just over $25,000 on the "Spark my potential" programme through the Givealittle website.
Knight says, “The last few days were like crazy. My mum was out everywhere handing out flyers. I was in stores saying can you please put this on your walls and counters everywhere, can you please help me."
Impact Academy is one of the premier training facilities where eighty percent of their players gain College scholarships. Knight will spend six months over there.
"When I go over there, they pretty much train me almost as a professional player. I'll get trained six days a week, three times a day in two hour sessions," says Knight.
Knight has been playing basketball for only four years, and hopes to get noticed by College scouts before the new semester in September.
Knight says, “My main dream is to play professional basketball. I want to dream big and go for it and if I can get there I'll do everything I can."
The NBA is a long way off for Garrick but the dream is still alive.