Western Sydney basketball team produces African Olympians.

Dinh Deng’s face lights up when asked about South Sudan’s first basketball appearance at the Olympics.

The 15-year-old’s family home in western Sydney was where he was when the East African country’s national team, which played its first international game seven years ago, took to the court in Paris. His mother, who was born in South Sudan, welcomed everyone into her home during the Olympics.

News of the viewing parties spread quickly throughout the South Sudanese community. Enthusiasm and passion were the only conditions for entry.

“You’ll meet a Sudanese uncle in Blacktown or Mt Druitt and he’ll say, ‘Are you watching the game?’ and I would say, “Yeah, and I bring energy too,” Dan said.

“It was important for everyone… all ages, all genders. It was a big event.”

Dan doesn’t want to watch from home when the next Olympic Games take place in 2028. He wants to be in Los Angeles, playing for the country where his mother was born, 13,000 kilometers from where he first picked up a basketball.

This may seem like a far-reaching ambition, but Dan has precedent on his side. He is one of 150 players for the Savannah Pride, a Mount Druitt club that has quickly become a factory for producing top basketball talent.

Thirty-five Savannah Pride players have gone on to play professionally at US colleges or for the New South Wales and Australian national teams since the club was founded by Mayor Chagai in 2006.

Among them is Bul Kuol, a Sydney Kings player who represented South Sudan in Paris. Duop Rit, who was playing in his second Olympics for the Boomers this year, became the first Pride player to make it to the NBA after signing with the Portland Trail Blazers last year.

Chagai himself was a talented player. He was receiving scholarship offers from US colleges and European academies when he badly broke his arm while playing in Kenya in 2005, ending his career.

He arrived in Blacktown a year later, 17 years after leaving his village in South Sudan at the age of six after stops in Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda and Egypt.

“My main ambition is to demonstrate the potential of South Sudan to Australia and show South Sudan what Australia has offered us as a country,” Chagai said.

“I am very proud to be able to make a contribution that will benefit not only my country of birth, but both countries…”

The stories of South Sudan players in Paris resonate with those who visit Chagai’s gym.

Carlik Jones, the team’s leading scorer in Paris, was born in the United States but gained citizenship through his mother’s South Sudanese heritage. Kuol, Sunday Dech, Jackson Macoy and Majok Deng were among the Australian-bred players who represented South Sudan. Others came from Canada, the United States and other parts of Africa.

South Sudan’s Olympic campaign ended with defeats to the United States and Serbia – eventual gold and bronze medalists respectively – after winning their opening match against Puerto Rico.

Chagay, who watched every game with his players, remembers how happy he was during the game against Puerto Rico. His mother is still in South Sudan and his wife Adol and two boys, aged four and six, live in an apartment in Nairobi, Kenya, while they wait for approval to join Chagai in Australia.

“For (South Sudan) to be at the Olympics with players who studied in Australia, who came from Australia, (they can now) actually bring Australian knowledge home to show their parents and relatives,” Chagai said.

“We came as refugees from the war, (now we) have something that shows them how beautiful the world is.”

Rilpuu Dut, a Pride player who is 205 centimeters tall at 15, was inspired by the performance.

“I felt motivated to see that a country like us is getting attention on the world stage and people can recognize it as a great country,” Doute said. “No matter where you come from, you can always dream big.”

Sydney Kings coach Brian Goorjian travels to Mt Druitt every two weeks to test the Pride’s best players, including Date.

Goorjian, who coached the Boomers in Paris, was “thrilled” when South Sudan qualified for the tournament.

Doute thinks it’s “pretty crazy” that a team like the Kings is paying attention to the Pride, but Goorjian knows all too well the promise of PCYC Mount Druitt. After all, he was the one who looked after Kuol on the Kings and gave Ritu his Olympic debut.

“I feel better (being there) than they think I am there,” Goorjian said.

“I took my wife there, I take my daughter there. It’s really very special.”