THERE is no doubt that basketball talent is plenty among the grassroots in Malaysia.
However the biggest drawback, is that many of these budding youngsters never get to realise their full potential at a higher level which in turn leads to the rather underwhelming transitional stage to the senior ranks.
But V. Dhayalan, or fondly known as Dylan, has been a trailblazer of sorts as he is the first Malaysian scouted and eventually earned a high school scholarship to train and study in Taiwan - a basketball powerhouse in Asia.
Standing at 2.03m, the Selangor lad caught the eye of scouts when he featured for Subang-based club GoStrong during the MPL Development League last year.
He eventually transferred to the Guangqi High School in Taoyuan where he was groomed to feature in Taiwan's renowned High School Basketball League (HBL).
Now 10 months since moving to Taiwan, the 17-year-old believes his leap of faith is slowly but surely paying off.
With Taiwan well in control of the Covid-19 situation, training has been going on as usual for Dylan while his peers back in Malaysia have been barred from training for the past two months due to the Movement Control Order (MCO).
"Training in Taiwan has been going on without hiccups as the situation here is well controlled," explained Dylan.
"We've still been training eight hours every day with three days of gym to top it off.
"I've really been relishing the challenge being here although it was a bit hard to adapt to their culture initially.
"In the last few months there has also been a lot changes on me personally, as I've gotten bigger and gained more weight.
"I also needed to adapt to the speed of Taiwanese basketball because here they play at a faster pace.
"And one of the things that I've really learned while being abroad is that I have to be a lot more independent especially when it comes to timetables, rules and regulations.
"Time management is really very important here and on top of it, the physical training here is wonderful as they have a proper programme for us.
"I would say it's totally different compared to Malaysia because apart from the eight hour daily training, we also need to run across mountains at 6am.
"I definitely feel that I've improved a fair bit compared to when I first came here.
"Hopefully this puts me on the right track as I hope to become a professional player."
The Mandarin-speaking Dylan added that he is aware of the pressure on him to succeed and he is certainly determined to prove a point.
"There are people supporting me back home and I certainly want to make the best of this opportunity and make Malaysia proud in the future."
Dylan's success in Taiwan bodes well for Malaysian basketball as this could lead to Taiwanese high school scouts eyeing more Malaysian talent.