Young Hastings Basketballer’s dream to go to USA

PRESS RELEASE -
For Immediate release -
3RD October 2014

Young Hastings Basketballer’s dream to go to USA could become reality

Samuel Marshall is an 11 year old, year 7 student at Hastings Intermediate School. His love of basketball, along with sheer determination and talent, has seen him rise up within the ranks of the inspiring ‘Paul Henare and Paora Winitana Basketball Academy’ to become one of the lucky few selected to go to the USA; a trip that will see him competing with top high school teams, playing in front of talent scouts and learning skills from NBA teams - an invaluable experience.

The estimated cost for Samuel to join this incredible 3 week trip is $4000. Unfortunately, Samuel’s Mum could see no way of raising this kind of funding, having been made redundant last year and now a student again retraining at EIT. So they sadly realised, with money so tight, sending Samuel wouldn’t be possible.

However, Samuel was not to be deterred. His Mother and Paora Winitana had consistently instilled in him that anything is possible in life and to never give up on your dream. So Samuel decided to take matters in to his owns, so determined was he to seize this opportunity of a lifetime. He decided to start fundraising by selling something he could make with some help from his Mum and sister. And so the start of his ‘Toffee Apples’ stall came to about.

Samuel and his Mum have raised over $1800 through fundraising so far, asking for free market stalls at local events. With the winning combination of delicious toffee apples and Samuel’s captivating smile, they sell well. With the trip looming at the end of November, a short window of time remains to raise the rest of the money - but Samuel’s determined he will get there! He’s been trained by the best to believe in himself.

ENDS

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