THE high-flying skills of Eric Sandrin have won him basketball fans wherever he has played.

But as a child, he preferred playing football to basketball, until his brother changed his mind.

'I wanted to play on the same team as my younger brother, and he wanted to play basketball,' said the 30-year-old American with a smile. 'Yeah, it's his fault, really.'

But the Singapore Slingers forward does not regret his choice. And when he faces a Philippine All-Star team tomorrow at the Singapore Indoor Stadium, it will mark yet another chapter in his colourful career.

But probably the moment that stands out is signing on with the Harlem Globetrotters in February 2005, after impressing them with his dunking ability. It made him the first Asian-American to join the mostly African-American team.

'It was like a dream come true,' recalled the 2.06m forward. 'It was an honour to put on the Globetrotters' jersey.'

Although he enjoyed entertaining the crowds, his love for competitive play remained. So he tried out with National Basketball Association teams the Los Angeles Lakers and the Sacramento Kings later that year.

However, neither team took him on.

'If a situation does not go your way, you can still look at it as an opportunity,' said Sandrin.

'If I had taken the NBA path, I would not have gone to Portugal, Korea, or even come here.'

This mindset helped in July, when he found out just days after arriving in Singapore that the Slingers had pulled out of Australia's National Basketball League.

Although disappointed at the lack of competitive basketball, the Seattle native still gives his all on court, where, he admits, he can become very emotional.

'I am very competitive during games and I hope the energy carries over to the team.'

Which is why he is raring for the chance to play in front of a packed arena.

Organisers say more than 8,000 tickets in the 10,700-capacity Indoor Stadium have already been snapped up.

He said: 'The atmosphere is better with more people cheering, and my level of play will go up, maybe high enough to win the crowd over.'