Lauren Wise is happy to open birthday presents early.
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Set to turn 16 on July 28, the Launceston Lightning talent has accepted a dream scholarship with the Australian Institute of Sport and will fly to Canberra on Saturday to begin the first six months of a program which will see her through to year 12.
Having first hit the national radar at under-14 level in 2015, the six-foot-four post player said she was "really excited" to be offered one of only 12 spots in the Centre of Excellence women's class.
"Mum was probably more excited than me at the time because I was trying to process it, it was definitely full on, I was really excited," Wise said.
"It's been a bit stressful trying to get everything organised to be able to go up there - take me out of St Pats and getting into Lake Ginninderra.
"We're pretty close Mum and me - she's been kind of upset and she said she'll probably cry when I go away but I'm going to call her every day."
ELSEWHERE IN SPORT
Wise is no stranger to the national's capital, having visited in May for a national high performance camp ahead of this year's Asian under-16 championships.
The 15-year-old is yet to hear whether she will be part of Australia's title defence, but is already mentally preparing for her NBL1 debut with the CoE next year.
"We've got the Tornadoes team here, but I didn't try out for that just so I could focus more on my national and state teams and being able to get into those," she said.
"So going into that at the start with the CoE is pretty exciting."
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