Lewis had an award from the JTYAF almost 5 years ago and he got in touch with us recently to tell us all about his achievements.

"The money you gave me helped to fund my passion for basketball. It enabled me to go on three international tours representing my country playing for the South West England squad. I had great success from this, playing very well and our team came second in one of the main competitions in Poland. From taking part in these tours I got invited to an Elite Basketball Academy in Plymouth, I took up the opportunity and moved away from home when I was 15 to pursue my dream and finish off my GCSE’s. The experience in Plymouth was very tough and taught me a lot of life lessons but also got me on the ladder of improvement and noticed by other elite academies.

Three years ago I moved to Bristol which was at the time the best basketball academy in the U.K. Since I have been here I have won second place medal in the entire country, represented Wales at the European championships as well as being awarded Most Improved Player, Student of the year, Student Athlete of the Year and Principle Student awards. I am now in my last year in Bristol and am the Captain of the team, the top scorer on the team and finally playing Professional basketball for the men's team here. The final piece recently fell into place as I achieved my dream since 10 years old to get a scholarship to America to play basketball which I got offered earlier on in the year.

This tough, long and amazing journey would not have been possible if it wasn’t for the support from the foundation so I would like to say a massive thank you for believing in me and I would love to share my story to give the foundation the recognition it deserves."