BASKETBALL player Will Piper has been picked to represent the East of England. He has been told that scouts from professional clubs and the England national set-up will be watching him. Piper, 16, from March discovered at the weekend that he has been pick

BASKETBALL player Will Piper has been picked to represent the East of England.

He has been told that scouts from professional clubs and the England national set-up will be watching him.

Piper, 16, from March discovered at the weekend that he has been picked for the East of England's under-18s team.

He had attended three sets of trials.

The first took place a month ago and attracted more than 200 players and last one was at the weekend.

Piper is one of 14 players to have been selected.

A three-team tournament will take place later in the year with Piper playing against other regional teams.

He said: "I'm over the moon. It's my dream to play basketball professionally and this is the first stage towards doing that.

"One of my teachers saw a leaflet about the trials and asked me if I wanted to go, so I went along without many expectations."

Piper has been training with professional club King's Lynn Fury.

He said: "I learnt so much there. The coaches were very helpful. They got me working on a few technical things and helped me work on finding my best shooting position and it's really brought my game on."

Piper is six feet six inches tall and plays as a centre for Fenland Falcons and Neale-Wade Community College.

He is coached at both teams by Chris Parker, Fenland District Council's community basketball coach.

Parker said: "I went to the first trial and there were some excellent players there so Will's done extremely well to get selected.

"He's got a tremendous attitude and this achievement is down to the hard work that he's put in.

"He's got the ability and if has the desire he can go really far.