GOLD Coast Blaze players met some of Toowoomba’s budding juniors at a coaching clinic yesterday and the NBL stars are also using their tour of the Darling Downs this week to meet each other.

The Blaze held a training session at Water Street Basketball Stadium yesterday before putting 32 junior players through their paces at St Mary’s College.

Some of the Blaze players are still getting used to the faces they will play alongside when the NBL season tips off in October and coach Joey Wright says their trip to the Darling Downs is great for team bonding.

“Up until three days ago, some of these guys didn’t even know each other’s names, so it’s good to get together and get everybody used to one another,” Wright said.

The Blaze will visit schools in Dalby today as their two-day tour of the Darling Downs wraps up.

The Gold Coast players got back to where it began for many of them yesterday at the coaching clinic and Wright thinks it would be great if any of the children present went on to the NBL or WNBL.

“Every single one of these (Gold Coast) guys would have been in that situation at one point in time, including myself, where someone came in to speak to us about basketball and motivate us to go on to do what we’re doing now,” he said.

“So there might be a John Rillie in there, there might be a player in there in six, seven, eight, nine years that could come and play for the Blaze.

“But that’s not the only reason you do it.

“You do it because you can motivate those kids.”