PORT Macquarie Dolphins players and staff had an epic experience in Sydney on October 18.
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More than 40 players and staff visited the Sydney Kings home stadium after winning the experience in a competition last year.
Not only did they get to watch the Kings play the Adelaide 36ers, they trained with some of the players and coach Andrew Gaze, were given the VIP backstage treatment and formed a guard of honour as the players made their way onto court.
Dolphins coach Andrew Lister said it was a fantastic experience for everyone.
“We took a bus load of 40 kids down who went onto the court, ranging from under 12s to under 18s,” he said.
“They all had a great time, they loved it. They were all backstage and were able to get into the VIP areas, meet the players and that kind of thing.”
Kevin Lisch and Julian Kahzouh, two key Kings players, came out onto the court and trained with the Dolphins kids.
“They were doing little relay drills and that kind of thing, which was all before the main match,” Lister said.
“Once we finished training with the players, all of the junior kids went onto the court as the players came out and were high-fived. It was a magic experience.
“From a coaches perspective, the most rewarding thing was to hear the really excited chatter amongst the kids while watching the game and on the bus-trip home.
“All of them were imagining it could be one of them playing in a Kings uniform out there one day.”
