Manly Warringah basketball teen Harvard bound after stint at South Sydney rugby league club

He was a rugby league young gun who had those in the know in NRL excited. Now he’s in the US after a major code swap and about to make history in basketball.

Basketball rising star Luca Ace-Nasteski from the Manly Warringah club. Pic: Supplied

He is the big teen with even bigger dreams who traded in a potential career in the NRL for one in a completely different sport on the other side of the world.

A precociously talented young footballer on a fast track to success with the South Sydney Rabbitohs before a major U turn.

And not for a second has 18-year-old Manly Warringah basketballer Luca Ace-Nasteski regretted following his heart out of footy and back into a sport he played as a kid and he describes “as the right fit’’.

The code-swap has taken him to the US where he is now the first Australian basketballer to be accepted at the prestigious Ivy League university Harvard in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

“It’s something I could never have imagined,’’ said the 208cm gun who his coach said “runs like the wind, has hands like an NBA player, is super speedy and very mobile’’.

Luca Ace-Nasteski in the US. Pic: Supplied

Luca Ace-Nasteski has big plans for the future. Pic: Supplied

“I want to be a part of something special. I want to make a difference in the world as well.’’

Ace-Nasteski, who has been on scholarship in Florida with the IMG Academy, played basketball for fun before throwing himself into the Harold Matthews and SG Ball competitions for South Sydney in his mid teens.

In Year Nine he rediscovered a passion for basketball and juggled both sports briefly.

“I would be training at Souths, then rush off to play basketball. I’d be doing the sand hills at Cronulla then going on to play a game. I would be shattered. I couldn’t do both,’’ he said.

“At 17 I made the decision to go with basketball. For me basketball is freedom. I feel like it was meant for me, that it’s my purpose to play, to push myself and inspire others.

“My goal is to try and play professionally, hopefully the NBA, that’s the dream.

Basketball star Luca Ace-Nasteski with Tim Hill. Pic: Supplied

Luca Ace-Nasteski is also an NRL fan. Pic: Supplied

“But I also want to make a difference in the world with my academics, that’s why I chose Harvard. I have a passion for helping others and would love one day to work in the United Nations.’’

Ace-Nasteski is the latest in a long line of youngsters from the Manly Warringah club - which boasts just 4500 members - to be playing in the US.

“We are a small club and a long way away from the others and we have this funnel to go to these incredible athletics institutions,’’ said director of coaching Tim Hill, who originally coached Ace-Nasteski at The Scots College.

“Luca is very agile for a big man and has plenty of speed. Harvard have 61,000 applicants per year with only 3.2% being admitted into the University in 2022. That says something’’

Hill said since 2021 his association has produced five Ivy League players who are at schools including Yale, Columbia and now Harvard, with more heading to the US in the near future.

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