ThunderCats team-mates Bryce Gonsalves and Jorel Smith are heading to the United States to further enhance their burgeoning basketball careers.

Gonsalves, 18, will be heading to NCAA Division III Marymount University in Arlington, Virginia, this autumn while 16-year-old Smith, a guard on the Island Basketball Summer League’s ThunderCats, will be heading to the Global Squad programme in Pottstown, Pennsylvania after receiving a grant from the government’s National Junior Athlete Sponsorship Programme.

Gonsalves has been playing in the IBSL this summer after returning from an injury that sounds more serious than he is letting on.

“I dislocated my right kneecap,” Gonsalves said. “It was a slight tickle! I was playing for Saltus in the semi-finals of a school tournament and I got injured with about seven minutes left.

“We were actually playing CedarBridge, Jorel’s team, and we would’ve put up a better fight if I was playing!”

Team-mates with the ThunderCats, it is clear there has been a friendly rivalry when they have faced each other for their respective schools.

“Whenever we’re going against each other, especially in school league, there’s definitely a rivalry,” Gonsalves said. “It got a little heated in one of the midseason games — there’s always a rivalry between Saltus and CedarBridge. But whenever we play on the same team, there’s always a good little bond going.”

Gonsalves has plenty of praise for Smith, and appears to believe that his NBA dreams are realistic.

“Jorel is one of the best upcoming players here,” he said. “I’ve already got into college, but he’s got sky-high potential.”

And Smith knows who his role model is and what he needs to do to emulate him.

“[I’m] more Chris Paul than anyone,” Smith said. “I want to go to the NBA. That’s my final goal. I need to train hard and train often.”

Smith calls Gonsalves “Kevin Love” after the Cleveland Cavaliers forward, and is equally effusive in his praise.

“He’s strong and very coachable,” Smith said. “He can go as far as he wants to go.”

And Gonsalves reckons the IBSL is an ideal training ground for the rigours of college basketball.

“This definitely gets me learning,” he said. “The speed of the American game is faster, but this is the same level of physicality.”