Quinn Ellis is latest from Betty Codona basketball family to represent Great Britain

That’s because his grandmother was the architect of women’s basketball in this country and the matriarch of a family steeped in the sport.

Betty Codona launched the Sheffield Hatters more than 60 years ago, while her daughter Vanessa coaches the team and is on the staff of the national squad for which her granddaughter Georgia Gayle also plays.

Betty died last December, leaving the British basketball fraternity in mourning.

“My grandmother was an icon, we were very close,” Quinn Ellis tells The Yorkshire Post.

“It was tough for the family, for everyone at Sheffield and the whole basketball community.”

He knows she would have been proud of her grandson though, who at just 19 has this week been part of the 24-man GB squad preparing for two key World Cup qualifiers in Newcastle tonight and Latvia on Monday.

“She always let you know how proud she was of her grandkids,” says Ellis, who has been pikced in the squad for tonight’s opener against Serbia. “She would have been at the game tonight, and she’d have been very happy.”

With a family so entrenched in basketball, there was never going to be any other sport that the young Quinn played growing up in Ecclesfield, north Sheffield.

“From when I was born I was always going to Hatters games, so it was nice to finally get started with the Sharks when I was eight,” he says.

“I guess I had basketball in the DNA. I was the youngest in the family, so everyone was telling me what I needed to do, I just sat there smiling and listening.”

Armed with an acute basketball knowledge and a work-rate to go with his talent, Ellis quickly rose through the ranks.

He played on the Sharks’ junior programme from age eight all the way up to 16. He could have joined the British basketball academy when he finished secondary school, or looked Stateside to a preparatory school, but made the choice to turn professional by signing for a second division team in Italy.

“It was a big step, a big risk, I had to sacrifice a lot with family and friends,” he says. “I wasn’t sure whether I wanted to go, but I spoke to my mom and she was on board with it, and I have no regrets now. It’s the best choice I’ve made.”

Ellis played with the senior team last year and this summer signed a four-year contract with a first division team out in Italy.

A point guard who likes to get his team-mates involved - “sometimes my mom accuses me of being too unselfish and urges me to shoot more,” he laughs - Ellis was spotted by his Italian suitors representing Great Britain at an Under-16s tournament in Montenegro three years ago.

Now 19, he has been given the chance to represent Great Britain’s senior team.

“For me at such a young age I’m just taking in everything I can, keeping a smile on my face,” he says.

“Every day I’m asking questions, getting out as much of it as I possibly can.

“Whether I play this weekend or not, it’s about being a part of it, trying to win as many caps as I can.

“This camp is about growing my skillset. Maybe in five years I can be a key player for GB.”

By then he hopes to be an established professional playing on the continent.

Whatever the future holds, his grandmother would be proud.