MY real favourite team

OK the other day I said my favourite team all time was the San Antonio Spurs and that is true but obviously I haven't actually laced em up in the Silver, Black and White

NCT U18 Div 3 boys ... definitely boys not yet men

My real favourite team and the team that has had the most influence on my life is a team very close to my heart

The 1991/92 Under 18 Div 3 Boys team for NCT the Noarlunga City Tigers

(Back left) #40 Scott Irving, (Front Left) #42 Travis Rainsford, (Front Right) #45 Martin Carter & (Front 2nd Right) #6 Me

Yep we had 4 other players, a coach, possibly 100s of fans but it was these 4 guys and a 5th starter whom we shall call Jack Daniels who were the central figures in this part of the story - what an All Star 5!!

We all knew each other loosely its Adelaide in the southern suburbs after all, I'd seen Trav and Scott around the place and Marty on the soccer pitch but we went to different schools Wirreanda, Aberfoyle Park and Morphett Vale Highs so were relative strangers.

But throw a group of 16 year olds together with a shared passion for hoops, add in Friday Night games (future blog alert), weekend trainings and a liberal dose of teenage discovery and you have a recipe for something special.

Love you guys too

And special it was, we quickly became very good mates and would spend large portions of the weekend together. This pretty much continued for most of the next 10-15 years, even today we are all lifelong mates and although we don't catch up as often as we'd like to we all share a common bond.

Yesterday one of my Tiger brothers Scotty "Doctor" Irving came and shared game 3 with me (as did Yatesy one of the PAC lads) which was a memorable experience. As the 3s rained (and boy it was pissing down yesterday in the Alamo) and we exchanged high 5s it took me right back 20 years to when we were making the shots in life or death games, teammates, friends, Tigers, brothers ... my favourite team of all time ...

Thanks Jobe, Keel and Doctor for the memories & to the game of Basketball for bringing us together