T.J. Hurley selected for BioSteel game
T.J. Hurley’s short visit home was extended one week thanks to some fantastic news he received in a phone call from his parents.
The 17-year-old Fonthill resident, who is playing prep basketball in Florida, was told by his parents that he had been selected to play in The BioSteel All Canadian Basketball Game featuring the top 24 male Canadian high school basketball players who are either Canadian-born or enrolled in a Canadian institution
“I was in my room packing to come home and they told me to pack extra for the game,” the 6-foot-5, 190-pound guard said. “I was super-excited.”
The news was a chance to reflect on his basketball journey. Fed up with his inability to play basketball in Canada because of the pandemic, the former E.L. Crossley student went to Melbourne Beach, Fla., just east of Orlando, for private training and mentorship at the facility of noted skills trainer Ganon Baker. Initially, he was picked up by a local Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) team, Team Legacy, and played with it for a couple of tournaments. It wasn’t long before Baker and the head coach of the Legacy team helped Hurley land a roster spot on Adidas Team Florida, a sponsored AAU squad that played in the Adidas 3 Stripe Select Basketball circuit.
This past season, Hurley was a student and basketball player at The Rock School in Gainesville, Fla., where he helped his squad win a Sunshine Independent Athletic Association title.
“I was thinking about all the hard work I had put in to get to this moment and it is an honour,” he said. “It definitely wasn’t expected but it shows that all the hard work had paid off. I am very appreciative of it.”
Hurley heads to the event in Toronto next Friday, competes in a skills competitions Saturday and then plays in the game Sunday at 3 p.m. at the University of Toronto. The game is being televised live on TSN.
“I am just going to play my game and I am looking to have fun there playing with and against some of the best players in Canada,” he said. “It will be great to meet some new guys and have fun doing it. I remember watching the game as a kid as and watching all the great Canadians play in it and it is huge honour to be selected.”
The majority of the players he will be playing against are 12B students but that is nothing new for the Grade 12 student. He always played a year up in travel ball as a member of the Pelham Panthers and competed against several of the players also selected for the event. Back then, Hurley was a pint-sized player but no more.
“I have grown a lot since I went down to the States.”
He has developed a lot as a basketball player too, especially this past year competing in the SIAA, which is one of the best prep leagues in the country. One of the Rock School’s alumnus is Philadelphia 76ers great Joel Embiid.
“There are a lot of great players in the league and we ended up winning the league in the end,” Hurley said. “We had a really good year.”
His biggest adjustment was learning to compete against bigger and more athletic opponents.
“It was learning how to use my body to play against bigger, stronger guys and still being able to get to the rim against them.”
Hurley also had to develop away from the court.
“Being away from home, I needed to be more independent and learn to do more things on my own and not rely on my parents as much. I have done a lot of growing up in the past year.”
He admitted to missing his family early on.
“It was definitely a tough decision to move away from my family and friends here and live somewhere that I didn’t know much about.”
Equally as exciting BioSteel game for Hurley is his impending decision on which NCAA Division 1 basketball team he will join. He has had interest from about 50 schools, talked to about 15 and has offers from five, including the University of North Carolina Wilmington, Florida Gulf Coast and Vermont. He made official visits to those three schools.
“I am still talking to a bunch of schools right now and I have narrowed it down to a few. I am looking to make that decision on National Signing Day which is April 14,” he said. “What I am looking for in a school is what is the best for me, where I can see myself fitting into their systems, where I can connect with my teammates and develop relationships with the coaches. I want to go somewhere where I know I can be successful for the next four years.”
Hurley will be glad when he makes his choice and he can focus on what comes next.
“It is definitely tough and it all came at me pretty fast. I am focusing now on the schools that made offers to me because they are the ones where it will be possible for me to play at next year.”
The next big thing on Hurley’s hoops calendar is a Canada Basketball under-18 assessment camp on Easter weekend.
“That is super-exciting too to potentially be able to represent my country. Even to be selected for the tryouts is a huge honour in itself.”
In Grade 7 and 8, Hurley attended the Team Canada junior academy before competing for Team Ontario in Grades 9 and 10.
