Jeremiah Trueman

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Jeremiah Kloeten Trueman, New Zealand national basketball representative, was born in New Plymouth, New Zealand, on 19 May 1987 to Marty and Cathy Trueman of Stratford, Taranaki. He spent his childhood in Brazil where his parents worked as Christian missionaries, until returning to Stratford when Jeremiah was 13 years old. It was only then that he took up basketball, having played football while a child in Brazil.[1]

Trueman quickly developed as a basketballer. He was selected for the Nelson Giants National Basketball League team in 2004 while still at school, finishing his secondary education at Nelson College. Giants coach Nenad Vucinic saw Trueman's potential and chose to develop him as a power forward rather than import a better player for the position. Trueman didn't disappoint, receiving the Giants’ Rookie of the Year Award for his performance in the 2004 season.[2][3]

In December 2004 Trueman was selected for a New Zealand Secondary School side to play its Australian counterpart in Auckland, giving a stand-out performance.[4] In January 2005 he was selected for the Junior Tall Blacks to attend the Australian Youth Olympic Festival in Sydney, and scored 14 points in the 90-59 loss to Australia in the final.[5] He again represented the Junior team at the San Diego International Invitational Tournament in June, where the side finished 5th place overall.[6] Trueman took up a scholarship with San Diego Christian College around the same time, and in the 2005-2006 season helped the College basketball team to a second-place finish in the Golden State Athletic Conference.[7]

In July 2006 Trueman was a surprise selection for the Tall Blacks team to play Australia, due largely to the unavailability of Dillon Boucher and veterans Sean Marks and Ed Book.[8] He made a brief but sturdy appearance in the July 12 game at Napier, satisfactorily marking renowned Australian basketballer Andrew Bogut.[9][10] Trueman missed out on selection for the 12-man squad to tour Australia and South America, although ironically fluent in both Spanish and Portuguese. However, at 2.05m high and still only 19 years of age Trueman has a big future ahead of him, and may yet be the answer to the New Zealand team’s lack of size and height.

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