'The talent was incredible': NBL superstar impressed by Terang juniors

The Horsham export, who has played in the NBA for the Brooklyn Nets and Minnesota Timberwolves, as well as representing the Australian Boomers, was running his Wolfpack Hoops basketball camps on Sunday, passing on his wisdom to juniors of all levels.

The 31-year-old enjoys revisiting his country roots and was impressed with what he saw from the Terang youngsters.

"It was amazing actually, it was really awesome," he told The Standard.

"Early start nice countryside drive, plenty of water to drive by on the way, some not-fenced yards with cows in it which was amazing to see. Throws you back to Horsham and the good old days.

"We came in the talent was incredible, some of these young kids have actually got a really bright future and they pick up things really well. They were fast-learning, they were attentive, they were all respectful, they all kind of had some worries about could they or couldn't they do some of the drills but when they had that reassurance they picked it up, pushed through to figure out 'oh that's how I did it'.

"When you have people that have curious minds that are able to learn quickly, they're always going to be in for a lot of progression through their lives."

The Phoenix captain explained how he recently founded the program to help provide more opportunities to regional basketballers.

"It was about trying to get into the country and regional areas just like where I was born in Horsham," he said.

"We didn't have the access to the greatest coaches in Australia but we had some incredible coaches and you can never take that away. But the thing is now (I'm) coming to the smaller towns that maybe don't get some of the higher profile coaching that you would like to see.

"It's about giving them the tools to learn, develop, grow and then slowly build into beginner, intermediate, advanced and professional levels of all the drills they're doing. So what you see in some of the videos and sessions is the very beginner but then you have three or four different levels above that. So to give them a chance to have a career in professional sport is something that I hope every child gets to have and enjoy just as I have."

Although admittedly "weary" after his early start, Creek thoroughly enjoyed the camps and plans to revisit the area in the future.

"I'll be definitely back," he said.

"Everywhere that I go and do these camps I want to re-engage with and obviously come back, see the kids that come back and go to the next level. If they do the beginner course, we do the intermediate. If we do the intermediate, we go and do an advanced one.

"And once we get a little bit more of an uptake in that, then obviously we'll continue to come back every year and hopefully make this a bit of a seasonal thing."

Creek will be taking a Wolfpack Hoops camp to Port Fairy on Wednesday, December 27, with bookings able to be made online.