PORTSMOUTH, RI (WPRI) — This week’s Cardi’s Furniture & Mattresses Hometown Sports Hero is Connor Swider.

The Portsmouth native enjoyed a breakout Summer with his BCRI AAU Team, showing off the skills he worked on this Spring ahead of his Senior year at Worcester Academy.

“Going into the AAU season, I was just a catch and shoot guy and now I’m able to work off the dribble and get into my post game a little bit,” Swider said. “Kyle definitely let me play with freedom, which was awesome, and I worked on my game a lot.”

“He was a little bit of a late bloomer as far as his growth goes,” said BCRI Head Coach Kyle VanRossum. “He grew quick, and he grew late, so I think once he grew and got comfortable in his own body, and the way he was going to move on the court, is when his confidence started to grow, and he really started to become an excellent basketball player.”

Basketball is the family passion. Connor’s parents, Jenny and Jeff, played at UNH and Fordham and his sisters Kylie and Courtney will play this year at Stonehill and Richmond. Older brother Cole signed with the Indiana Pacers this Summer, after playing for the Los Angeles Lakers and Miami Heat the last two seasons.

“Honestly my parents didn’t really give us a second plan which I like,” Swider said. “My family is a basketball family. I love basketball, it runs in my blood so I don’t think there was a backup plan for me.”

Connor’s success this Summer has opened up his recruiting and he has a busy schedule of open gym workouts in front of college coaches at Worcester Academy over the next few weeks that should bring more interest. Watching his sisters and brother’s recruiting experience has given him a close-up view of the process.

“Yes, so it really helped me a lot seeing how my brother went through it the first time around and seeing both my sisters use that a lot in their decision so that’s definitely going to help me play out where I want to go. I’m expecting some different things and definitely some of the schools I’ve been talking to recently, I think they could be a good fit for me.”

“These schools really like Connor not only for what he is now, but for what he’s going to become in the future and that speaks back to his work ethic and how hard he works and puts the time in,” VanRossum said. “So as far as these schools being interested, I can see a dozen schools offering him after these open gyms.”

“The sky is the limit for him. He has a chance to be just a really good Division I Basketball player and everything after that is gravy, but I wouldn’t rule him out the way he works.”

If you have a Hometown Sports Hero you’d like to nominate, email sports@wpri.com.

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