JackJumpers 'Taylor' birthday surprise for young member

It's not every day you get a personalised redition of  'Happy Birthday' sung by your favourite basketball players, but the Tasmania JackJumpers are getting out into the community and delighting their growing fanbase.

Jack McVeigh, Jarred Bairstow and Fabijan Krslovic surprised JackJumpers member Taylor Joseph by arriving at her Lindisfarne Primary School classroom to celebrate her 12^th birthday on Thursday.

“I came in after lunch and was doing my quiet reading when these three really tall people came in, singing happy birthday. I was a bit embarrassed and then I was so overwhelmed with joy that I started crying” Taylor said.

The trio took Taylor and her Grade 6 classmates through a KMART Game Time basketball clinic and celebrated with JackJumpers cupcakes!

“The look on her face said it all when we walked in. I’ve never done something like that before but it’s good fun” Krslovic said.

“It’s really what the club wants to do, be a community team and do what we can to show that we’re representing Tasmania and be involved [in the community] as much as we can”.

The former Cairns Taipans forward has joined the JackJumpers on a two year deal, and is loving his new home after completing quarantine requirements.

“It’s been a breath of fresh air being here in Tassie”.

“The coaches have been unreal, the two weeks quarantine is tough but they understand that and we’ve slowly been shaking the rust off” Krslovic said.

“Today was the first day we kind of went at it a little bit, which was a bit of a shock to the system and we’ll probably pull up a bit sore but we love that”.

Krslovic will add size and shooting to the JackJumpers frontcourt.

“The opportunity to be part of building the culture and setting the values, and being a part of the community and building that connection, it’s an opportunity that won’t come around often and I feel fortunate to be a part of that. It’s a cool experience”.

“Our goal is to win a championship first year and I think we have the squad to do that”.

“[Scott Roth] has been big on the details. He’s got his vision for what success looks like and he’s laid that out before us. Every day we go through little things that other coaches might not pay attention to or think is a big deal but it’s great.”