Floyd grew up fast. Now in Year 8, playing with the Seconds basketball squad, Floyd already shows the composure and hunger of an older player. Asked about his all-time basketball hero, he names Anthony Edwards, and the reason goes deeper than the game.
Floyd admires the way Edwards responded to personal loss at a young age and built something strong from it. That story of perseverance has stayed with him and speaks to the kind of player, and person, Floyd is determined to become.
“I lost my dad, grandma and two grandfathers in a short space of time between the ages of 10 and 11,” Floyd said. “Anthony Edwards also faced loss at a young age. Looking at what he has achieved despite this is inspiring.”
The player he named is the explosive Minnesota Timberwolves guard who rose from hardship and heartbreak to become one of the most electrifying forces in the NBA. For Floyd, Edwards is proof of what is possible.
Floyd plays his own game, but asked about his dream game, he smiled: “Who wouldn’t want to be able to shoot like [Stephen] Curry? That’s the dream.” It is the answer of a player who knows his own identity on the court but keeps his eyes wide open to the greatness around him. The skills he works to bring into every game are his own: speed and physicality, a strong vertical jump, a calm approach and, above all, always being a good teammate.
That last quality is not an afterthought. It sits at the centre of who Floyd is as a player. His first experience of basketball came in Year 5, in the school playground; informal, joyful, unmistakably his own discovery. He begged his mother to let him join a team. She said no. He asked again. Eventually, she relented. A family friend encouraged him to trial for representative basketball, and within weeks, he had made his first representative squad. His first club team, the Lane Cove Lakers, went on to win their local competition that very season.
The foundations of perseverance, belief and a willingness to put himself forward would carry him to extraordinary heights before he ever pulled on the Joeys’ basketball singlet. Before arriving at Joeys, Floyd had made his mark at the state level. In 2024, he was awarded the NSWCPS Maroon Award for Excellence in Basketball, one of the highest recognitions available to a primary school athlete in New South Wales. He won gold at the NSWPSSA Boys Basketball Championships. His participation in the Basketball NSW Talented Athlete Program, the D-League and the Southern Cross Challenge team to represent NSW, marked him as a player of rare and serious potential.
In the 2025/26 season, that potential was recognised at the highest level of junior development in the state: Floyd was selected into Basketball NSW’s State Performance Program, the peak high-performance pathway for athletes being prepared for future representative honours.
At Joeys, what moves him is not so much personal glory but the collective spirit. Ask him what he loves most about basketball here and his answer tells you everything: “Wearing the Cerise & Blue, playing with boys who never give up no matter how far ahead or down we are, and the support of the coaching staff.”
Two moments stand above the rest in his young basketball career. The first was simply his first game in Year 7 against Shore School – the beginning of something. The second carries more weight. In the final round late last year, Floyd was called up to play for the Seconds. He stepped up, held his own and scored some points.
“Playing with and against the big boys was a great experience,” he said, with the measured understatement of someone who has learned to let actions speak.
Anthony Edwards persevered through loss. He kept going. He became great.
At Joeys, Floyd persevered. He found basketball. He earned the state award. He made the Seconds. And he is just 14 years old.
In his shoes.
