Albany’s Billy McRae takes his chance after winning Basketball WA’s Male High Performance Athlete of the Year

Albany young gun Billy McRae credited his challenging relocation to Perth for enabling him to chase his dreams after winning Basketball WA’s 2024 Male High Performance Athlete of the Year award. The highly touted 16-year-old was awarded the prestigious medal at the BWA awards night on Saturday at Crown Perth after a stellar year full of lusty achievements including attending Basketball Australia’s national performance camp in January. He was one of 23 athletes selected to attend the camp held at the Australian Institute of Sport which gave emerging basketball talents in the nation a taste of an elite environment. After making the hard call to relocate to Perth, McRae has relished the opportunity to train alongside WA Basketball League powerhouse Perry Lakes Hawks and be part of the Perth Wildcats academy. “As tough as the move was, moving away from Albany has exposed me to a new level of competition in my age group but then also with the NBL1,” he said. “That’s probably the thing that’s helped me the most. “Moving to Perth and training with the NBL1 and at the Wildcats, they’re two pretty elite levels and going up against super athletic players and learning from high IQ players has really helped me. “But then also competing against the best athletes in WA too. “The idea right now is (to play NBL1) and with a full year of training going up against those guys hopefully I can be a part of the NBL1 squad next year.” A three-time WA Country representative, McRae excelled at the under-18 nationals despite being a bottom-age athlete averaging 11 points, four rebounds, three assists and one steal per game on 45 per cent shooting from the field and 30 per cent from beyond the arc. “It’s a pretty cool award to get . . . I wasn’t really expecting it to be honest, it’s kind of come out of nowhere,” McRae said. “Pretty cool feeling to be selected out of all the good players we have in WA, it’s nice to be recognised. “At the under-16 nationals last year I had a pretty good tournament and got to go to the performance camp. “Since then I’ve grown as more of a leader on the court as a point guard and improved my passing and getting others into the game.” McRae is studying at Wesley College in Perth and playing for a finals-bound Perry Lakes under-18 team in the WABL where he averages 15 points per game.