Sudanese refugee Biar Garang tipped for basketball's big time after fleeing war-torn homeland
HE IS being touted as one of the brightest young stars in Australian basketball, but Biar Garang just wants to make his family proud.
HE IS being touted as one of the brightest young stars in Australian basketball.
But Munno Para West's Biar Garang says his main goal in hoops is simply to make his family proud.
Biar, 14, arrived in Australia from a Ugandan refugee camp in November 2010 having previously fled war-torn Sudan.
He arrived with his grandma because his dad never returned from the war and his mum was shot dead amid the fighting.
Less than two years ago, Biar took up basketball after his athleticism was recognised by teachers at Elizabeth Vale Primary.
Since then, the 191cm centre has represented SA at under-14 and under-16 level, starred for Central Districts and Trinity College, and added dunking to his game.
"Some of my teammates started basketball when they were five, six or seven so I have to work harder to get better," says Biar, who represented SA at July's national under-16 titles.
"At the end of Year 12 I want to go to college then play NBL or NBA.
"It'd mean a lot to me because I just want my family to be proud of me.
"I want to do it to bring my family up and put them in history."
Biar's stunning rise has caught three-time Adelaide 36ers championship winner Rupert Sapwell's eye.
"He's probably turned his age group in basketball on its head in the past two years," says Sapwell, who is Trinity's director of sport and Biar's school coach.
"He's gone from an absolute beginner to making the state team as a bottom-aged player in less than 18 months.
"At the under-14 nationals last year, he was one of the best big players in the nation (for his age) then.
"He'll be a regular in SA state teams but he's got the potential to play a very good level division one US college basketball, which will put him in the elite Australian players."
Sapwell says Biar, a northern monthly winner in the School Sport Awards, is "one of those once-in-a-decade athletes".
"Athletically he has no peers … his focus over the next few years is to get his skill level up," he says.
"He's a prodigious, freakish talent."