TRINITY School in Aspley is on the verge of this year's English Schools Basketball Championships finals.
The Year 9 team, who are current Nottingham, Nottinghamshire and Midlands champions, take on Northampton's Weavers School tomorrow for a place in the final four.
Six teams are competing for three spots, with St Bonaventure's School from London already through.
The Wildcats Arena, Sneinton, is hosting the finals on May 14, which will give Trinity the home advantage if they are victorious at the school's sports hall tomorrow.
Team captain and point guard Reece Lenihan, 14, also represents the Midlands.
He said: "I know some of the Northampton team, and they're good. I think we have a good chance and hopefully we can go all the way."
The team have lost just one game in over 50 fixtures across all competitions this year.
"We have won a lot by big margins," added Reece. "It will be nice to have a challenge."
Forward Obinna Aniaka, 14, was so caught up in the sport he hadn't realised how far they had gone.
He said: "I didn't realise we were so close to the national final. I just turn up and play. I just love the game and it's amazing we've got that far."
Obinna said the team's success comes down to teamwork.
"To win, the co-operation has to be really smooth, which it has been all year," he added.
Amarii Amos, 14, another point guard, added: "I love how fast the game is, it's non-stop. To win will be pretty tricky, but we can do it."
Shooting guard Takunda Mushambi, 13, thinks Trinity can take home the title.
"To start with I didn't think we'd have got this far," he said. "We know the other teams are good, but we are good too!"
The school has an illustrious past in the competition. Assistant head teacher and basketball coach Steve Manderson has been at Trinity for 17 years and coached school teams since he started, leading three previous squads to the finals.
He said: "I do it in my spare time, but it's something I enjoy – I couldn't live without it."
Mr Manderson's enthusiasm is not lost on the players, some of whom attend Trinity purely because of the focus on basketball.
"A lot of kids here see basketball as their number one sport ahead of football, and we've had some convert to basketball having played football before."
Trinity's boys have already won the under-14s Sherwood Youth League this campaign.
Mr Manderson added that the toughest team they have faced this season was Nottingham Academy.
"If the competition was structured differently, I wouldn't be surprised to see two Nottingham schools in the finals."
