Telethon Child Jayton Carter the Star of Perth Wildcats Game

PERTH Arena’s 14,000 spectator stadium is a far cry from the basketball facilities in the Wheatbelt town of Cunderdin, where the town has a population of around 1000 and basketball games are played outdoors on one of two bitumen courts.

The difference in surrounds was just one of the reasons Little Telethon Star Jayton Carter was so thrilled to take part in a recent short game with his country-town mates on the Perth Wildcats home court.

Making the opportunity even more special for sports-made Jayton is that his whole family are Wildcats members, and they make the trek to the big smoke for home games as often as is physically possible.

Jayton’s on-court opportunity – part of his Telethon experience this year – allowed him and his mates to play a game as part the half time entertainment at a recent Wildcats home fixture.

Younger brother Patrick (6) was the first picked, and another 10 young Cunderdin boys ranging in age from eight to 12 also took part.

With the players came a travelling tribe of mums, dads and siblings that took up close to 50 seats at the Arena.

“It was very different for the kids to have a run on the hardcourt with an indoor ball,” Jayton’s mum Lisa Carter said.

“For Jayton, just being a country boy in the big city – he loved being in the crowd cheering with his mates around him.”

Jayton (10), who has cystic fibrosis, wrote to the half-time entertainment organisers Hawaiian to thank them for the opportunity.

“I liked it because I watch the Wildcats play on that court every home game and to get to experience playing on that court it is awesome!,” he wrote.