Gerry reaches for the top of his sport

Following in the footsteps of siblings who have gone on to State and national-level sports, former Broome boy Gerry

Ansey will soon be representing WA in a major national basketball competition.

Aged 13 and already standing six foot tall, Gerry is fast for his height and in his element in the centre of the court, as well as being very strong in the offensive.

Growing up in Broome, he attended Cable Beach Primary School and played basketball with Broome Basketball Association, where he had been named most valuable player among the Year 6 boys.

In Year 7 he went to Perth on a scholarship with Christchurch Grammar School, and has since grabbed every available opportunity with both hands.

Last year he made the Perry Lakes Hawks Men’s team. There he won the Coaches Award for the under-13s squad, which went on to win an undefeated WA Basketball League premiership, qualifying them for the under-14 men’s Club National Basketball Championships at Kalamunda, in October 1-6.

Gerry has just returned to Perth after spending his holidays in Broome, and is excited about the championships, which he’ll be training hard for over the next term.

“It’s going to be harder – much tougher, and bigger players I’ll be playing against,” he said.

Gerry said he hoped this next challenge and others to come will pave his way into State and eventually national level basketball.

“I want to make the State team at the end of this year and next year as well, and hopefully make it to the NBL, maybe the Olympics,” he said.

Gerry’s sisters Maree Ansey, 23, and Jacky Ansey, 16, who both made club nationals during schooling in Perth.