Caversham teenager Anthony Gomes is attracting attention from US college teams after making the bold decision to move to America at just 15 to pursue his basketball dreams.

Gomes played WABL with the Warwick Senators and attended Chisholm Catholic College before making the courageous decision to move to the US by himself to finish high school and dedicate his life to basketball.

Now 18, Gomes is part of Ohio’s SPIRE Institute Basketball Academy – the same basketball program LaMelo Ball joined as a 17-year-old before entering the NBL and then getting drafted to the NBA. Several colleges have contacted Gomes about joining them in 2022 and impressive performances during matches in Florida last week brought his dream closer.

“We played a lot of good teams and went 5-1. It was pretty good. I did alright. I got a college coach interest from playing down there,” Gomes told thewest.com.au’s The Dribble Podcast.

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“I really want to do college in America. I’m talking to a few schools right now. I’m trying to play basketball too while majoring in engineering and I want to do all four years at college. After that I want to have my degree and hopefully play pro basketball somewhere.”

Gomes’ move has inspired other West Australians to consider following in his footsteps.

The guard’s father, Melroy, is a director at WA’s Insight Sports Recruitment and is preparing to send hopeful teenagers to America next year to tour SPIRE’s facilities.

Anthony also has a 14-year-old brother, Aryan, playing for the Senators and the family was responsible for establishing the Caversham Vines Basketball Club.

Gomes started his American journey at Andrew’s Osborne Academy before joining SPIRE for his post-graduate season.

He said knowing Ball had been through the program provided confidence that he was joining a powerful organisation. Now the guard hopes to inspire other WA youngsters to follow in his footsteps.

“I heard about SPIRE first because of him playing high school. I actually didn’t know about SPIRE. I looked into it because LaMelo went there,” he said.

“Since I’ve left (Perth) I’ve developed a lot. Also in the sense of IQ I have developed a lot.

“Skill wise I’ve been going up the whole time. The coaching is really good. There’s also a lot of facilities to help us get better like the weight room, the shooting machines- everything helps you to get better.

“It’s kind of on you if you don’t get better while you’re here.

“Follow your dreams. Follow your heart.”