But now the 12 year-old (pictured) will finally get to play at representative level after being selected for the NSW Country High Performance basketball team.
The South School Year 6 student attended the recent High Performance trials, and was selected for both the D League and the Sand Slam.
‘‘I wasn’t confident at first but when I was selected I was jumping up and down, I was so excited,’’ Brooklyn said.
Brooklyn is one of 20 in the country team. They will play two tournaments across two weekends in November and attend a four day event in January as part of the Under 14s Boys High Performance Team.
The achievement came after a lot of hard work by Brooklyn.
‘‘I started playing basketball when I was six. I have just always loved putting the ball in the hoop,’’ he said.
‘‘I play for the Deniliquin Giants and this is my fourth season with them.
‘‘Opportunities like this don’t come around very often, so I think it is because of hard work.’’
Brooklyn’s mother Chantall said it has been a hard year for the young sportsman, as it was disheartening when several of the other events he had been selected for were cancelled.
‘‘His father (Rob Barnes) and I are so proud of him,’’ Ms Barnes said.
‘‘Brooklyn thought it was going to be a year full of opportunities, so it has been a long process waiting for another chance to compete at representative level.
‘‘But despite the setbacks, Brooklyn has stayed focussed to get to his end goal to play representative basketball this year.
‘‘We are absolutely stoked for him.’’
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