FORMER National Basketball League player BJ Carter was told by a coach once that he was too small and should consider being a jockey.
Considered too short as a teenager, at only 150 centimetres at the time, the boy from Cronulla grew quickly and became one of the Sydney Kings star performers.
BJ Carter ended up winning three NBL titles with the Sydney Kings. Today, he is a coach.
The 33-year-old, who is 186 centimetres tall, literally grew many centimetres over a two-year period to be noticed when playing for Sutherland Sharks in junior representative teams.
"I was only 150 centimetres when I was 17 or 18," Carter said.
"I remember one basketball coach telling me I should be a jockey."
Carter is now coach of the Sutherland Sharks men's Waratah League team which plays in the quarter finals against Hills Hornets at 7pm this Saturday at Sutherland Basketball Stadium.
The Sharks' women's youth league team will be playing the Newcastle Hunters at 7pm on another court at the stadium.
"This is my first year with the team, they a great group of people who range in age from 18 to 34," Carter said.
The Sharks did not make the play-offs last year but the new coach has turned things around.
Carter has put the "steel" into their minds this year and the players have responded.
Carter said he is proud of his years as a Sutherland Sharks junior coming through the club and then representative ranks and playing for Sydney Kings.
He also played in Sutherland's men's Waratah League and the points guard was a member of the team which won three straight championships.
However, there was a a time when he had to make a choice between sports.
"I was playing baseball, basketball, I was going to trial and play rugby league with Cronulla-Caringbah, and I was involved in Nippers at the surf club," Carter said.
"I decided to concentrate on basketball."
Carter's coaching role is voluntary and he doesn't earn one cent.
But his passion and desire to be a professional coach is second to none by those who know him.
His monetary earnings come from as manager of Got Game, an organisation which employs physical education teachers which runs health and fitness programs in schools.
Sutherland Basketball Association manager Julie Doyon said Carter is admired for his knowledge of the game and what he has done with the Waratah league team this season.
Carter said he "loves coaching" and being a mentor to players.
He said former Sydney Kings and Australian coach Brian Goorjian shaped him as a player and a person.
He was his mentor.
"Brian has told me to be myself as coach," Carter said.
Will the Hornets sting the Sharks?
