They are hard shoes to fill. But Nelson Giants captain Sam Dempster had no trouble finding a new home for the size 16 basketball shoes handed over by his star American teammate Jeremy Combs at the end of the NBL season.
They were the perfect fit for McIndoe “Mac” Frankish, the Upper Moutere teenager he is coaching at Nelson College.
Mac was born big, kept on growing at a rapid rate and is now 2.03m, or six foot eight in the old imperial measures, and weighs in at 103kgs.
He came to Nelson College to play rugby and turned out for the Nelson club, but wasn’t selected for the NC U15 side, told he was simply too big to lift in the lineouts.
A strange call considering top level rugby officials seem obsessed with tall locks.
Sam saw his chance and moved quickly to get “Big Mac” into college basketball and the NBS Nelson Giants Junior Academy.
“I had first seen him when I was handing out medals at the Weetbix Kids Tryathlon. I thought who is this guy, and then I saw him playing basketball at lunchtime,” says Sam.
Mac had also been throwing himself into track and field, winning the 2023 U14 Top of the South discus title, and making waves in swimming.
Initially he was a swim sprinter, but he stepped up in distance and won the U16 1500m freestyle at the South Island Short Course Champs in Blenheim in July.
Mac contracted glandular fever and, like many promising young sportsmen, he then had to decide what to primarily concentrate on.
“I enjoyed the discipline under Tasman Magic Academy swim coach Shaun Foley and it put muscle on my body, but not so much the getting up at 4am. I am now trying to learn as much as I can about basketball. I love playing the game but there is a lot of learn,” declares Mac, who is being used as a centre.
His height is an obvious drawcard, but Sam says he’s mobile for his size, eager to learn and extremely intelligent.
“Mac brings a great work ethic, spends most of the time around the rim and will probably surprise himself in a couple of years,” insists the Nelson College basketball coach Sam, who expects his young charge to push for selection in the NC senior team this year.
“He is the biggest of five or six young bigs coming through.” As part of his development, the 16-year-old is off to Melbourne next month to play in the X-posure tour which brings together players from all over Australia and South East Asia.
“I trialled at the HoopNation tournament in Tauranga in October and was one of 20 players picked,” says the Year 11 student who hopes to make the Nelson representative team next season and also wants to keep hurling the discus.
“When I went to physio, tests showed I am still growing and could get to 2.08m, but I don’t want to add much more weight.”
As for adding, maths and science are his favourite school subjects. And the name McIndoe, Mac is related to renowned plastic surgeon Sir Archibald McIndoe.
