Thomas drew the attention of All Stars selectors with his impressive performances as catcher for the Hills District under 12s team that collected the bronze medal in the NSW State Cup late last year.

“It was good to see how our team compared to the other districts and to see how they play,” Thomas said.

“It makes you want to keep striving to improve and get better.

“I didn’t know if I would get selected but I was just hoping for the best.

“It was really good to get picked and I was very happy.”

The Junior League All Star Day was originally scheduled for last weekend, but the recent wet weather saw the date of the match pushed back a fortnight.

Thomas said he was eager to test himself against the top junior baseball players in the state.

“I’m looking forward to catching for the best of the best players from other teams,” he said.

“It will be good to be involved in every play because if I do something wrong I know I’ll have another chance on the next pitch to improve.

“I think it will be a good opportunity to learn

a lot.”

Regular readers of the Gazette may recognise Thomas from his exploits in the pool, including picking up one bronze and two silver medals at the School Sport Australia Swimming Championships held in Melbourne in August.

However, the 11-year-old Kurmond Public School student is equally passionate about both sports and said he didn’t have a favourite out of the two.

“I can’t choose, I really enjoy doing both,” he said.

“Hopefully when I’m older if I’m lucky I’ll get the chance to go to the Olympics for swimming but if that doesn’t happen then hopefully I might be able to play baseball in America.”