Adelaide’s Ruby Porter set to represent Australia in 3x3 basketball at Youth Olympics

Ruby Porter is set to be one of Australia’s first representatives in 3x3 basketball.

Ruby Porter has been selected to go to the Youth Olympic Games to compete in 3x3 basketball, a new sport that will be at the next Olympics for the first time. Picture: AAP/Roy VanDerVegt

SHOCK, surprise and surreal are the words that come to Ruby Porter’s mind as she describes her past few months in basketball.

The Sturt Sabres shooting guard was once battling to make the SA state team.

Now she is set to represent Australia at not one, but two international tournaments.

Porter, 16, earned selection this month to represent the country’s first 3x3 basketball team in the sport’s debut at the Youth Olympics.

Ruby Porter has been selected to go to the Youth Olympics to compete in 3x3 basketball. Picture: AAP/Roy VanDerVegt.

It came after she was picked for the Australian Sapphires squad for the FIBA Under-18 World Cup in July.

“It’s just surreal at this stage,” Porter, of West Hindmarsh, says.

“Two months ago, I was just rocking up to state training every week and didn’t even think I was going to make that – I thought I was on the edge there.”

The St Mary’s College student’s meteoric rise began at May’s under-18 national championships.

She topscored with 20 points in the grand final as SA went down 86-60 to Victoria.

Porter will now make history with three other Australian girls as they compete in 3x3 basketball at the Youth Olympics in Buenos Aires, Argentina for the first time.

The sport, which will make its full Olympic debut at the 2020 Tokyo Games, is played on a half-court with three players and one reserve on each team.

“It’s so different to a normal basketball game – it’s fast-paced and so intense,” Porter says.

“They’ve selected really well I think to pick girls that are team-oriented and will be able to jell together – that’s what best suits the game.”

Porter will also travel to Minsk, Belarus for the Under-18 World Cup as part of a 21-strong Sapphires squad.

She has also been inundated with college offers from the US – something far from what she has been used to in her young career.

“I’ve had a few knockdowns in past years, not making teams, but now seeing people wanting me at their college is a bit of a shock.”

Porter describes her mother, Sandra, a former 300-plus game WNBL player, as her inspiration and says she and Dad Gavan are keeping her grounded.