Claymore’s Lleyton Turner prepares for AUSA basketball tour with Phoenix Athlete Performance

For most of his life, 17-year-old Lleyton Turner has been told his life living in housing commission means he won’t achieve anything. See how he proves the haters wrong everyday.

Lleyton Turner with Deven Appu at Phoenix Performance.

Despite being constantly told he will not amount to anything because of where he has grown up, one 17-year-old student is pushing hard to make his dreams of becoming a pro basketballer a reality.

Lleyton Turner was 14 years old and recovering from an injury when he watched a full game of basketball for the first time.

He decided then and there he wanted to give the sport a go and two weeks after playing through school he knew “I want to do this for the rest of my life”.

Now 17 years old, the student at Rosemeadow’s John Therry Catholic College has been selected to play for the AUSA team which will tour North America for two weeks during the school holidays.

It’s Turner’s chance to be recognised by scouts and land a scholarship to play college basketball in the US which could see him go on to become a pro player.

Lleyton Turner, 17, said despite living in Claymore he won't let postcode bias stop him from chasing his dream to be a professional basketball player.

Lleyton has been self funding his life and basketball dreams for the last three years.

But it has not been an easy road for Lleyton who faces postcode bias daily, living in a housing commission complex at Claymore.

“I have been hit with the stereotype of being from housing commission in Claymore,” he said. “People will tell me ‘look where you are, you’re never going to get out because of where you are’. I don’t think about that, I put one foot in front of the other.”

Lleyton Turner. Picture: AUSA

Lleyton used to live in Mittagong, and even the daily trek to get to training and school would never put him off.

“My body would be so tired it would be hard to wake up. So I would set 20 alarms on my phone, and then I bought an alarm clock and then a Google hub thing so everything would go off at once,” he said.

“Then I would get up at 4am and catch the train to Campbelltown and go and train at Rosemeadow courts before school then go to school and then afterwards I would go into Alexandria and train and then go home to Mittagong and do it all over again.”

It’s that drive to train and push himself which landed Lleyton the support from the team at Phoenix Athlete Performance, Narellan.

Lleyton Turner with Deven Appu at Phoenix Performance.

“Phoenix Athlete Performance are amazing, these guys are like a family. It was so unexpected. They really took me in like brothers and sisters,” Lleyton said. “They help me out so much.”

Phoenix Athlete Performance owner Deven Appu said he had worked with hundreds of athletes but Lleyton’s drive, passion and dedication was in a league of his own.

“Lleyton has been with us since November last year and he opened up to in January about some of the challenges he faces and we have been doing everything we can do to help him out,” he said. “He comes in real quiet and does the work. For him, basketball is his way out of a life he didn’t choose. He is a good kid, and he works really hard.”

Mr Appu said it was rare for a young athlete like Lleyton to be completely self-driven. He said the gym community had started a GoFundMe to help make it easier for Lleyton.

Others have also helped out by cooking meals and a physiotherapist from Elite Edge Physio has even provided free sessions to help Lleyton with his injuries.

For information about the GoFundMe, click here.