“I always wanted to play because my mum played back in the day,” he said.

The women’s team also played under the Redbacks name.

It had a team in the women’s competition last season, but the team has since folded due to a lack of numbers.

Growing up in Ararat, Cameron, 34, never thought he would have the chance to play for the club he supported because the Redbacks took a 17-year hiatus – so he moved to Stawell. 

When the Stawell team folded two years ago, due to a lack of playing numbers, Cameron knew it was now or never. 

“I used to play for the Wildcats in Stawell but they folded, and then a team in Ararat opened up and I thought this was my chance,” he said. 

Cameron is certainly making up for lost time as he never really took basketball seriously until he turned 18. 

His height meant people kept asking him to play. 

“I was a bit late on the board so I wasn’t really going to get anywhere too far with it,” he said.

 “I was just tall – I am 201 centimetres. When I was 16, I measured myself and I was around 200 centimetres so my friends just kept on bugging me and bugging me (to play).”

Cameron moved to Queensland in 2004 and lived there for a year and visited relatives. 

“I had a crack up there (in Queensland) but it was nothing too serious,” he said.

“It was still just a domestic competition, but it was a higher standard. There were a lot of tall blokes up there as well, so it was a good experience playing with similar body types to myself as opposed to towering over everyone as I do here.” 

The Ararat Redbacks have one final home-and-away game remaining in their season.

They take on the Hamilton Hurricanes on Sunday at the Ararat Fitness Centre, in what is shaping up to be an important affair because it has an impact on the race for the finals. The Redbacks head into this clash with five wins and 10 losses. 

Cameron said he hoped to see a big crowd.

“It’s a big one,” he said.“It should be a good game. It was a high-scoring one last time when we played them over there, so hopefully we put on another show.”

Cameron has one goal that he ultimately wants to achieve with the team.

“I would love to win a conference championship with the boys in the next couple of years, before I get too old,” he said. 

Jason’s mother Sue Cameron said she was proud watching him follow her in basketball.

“I am just glad that he got the chance to have a go at.”