WATERBORO — The high school basketball season may be a few months away, but one Massabesic student-athlete will be putting on a very special uniform when he hits the court in the Caribbean later this month.
Waterboro native Brandan Mills will represent the United States in a Student Athlete World event from July 18-24 in Barbados.
Mills, who will be a sophomore at Massabesic this fall, faced plenty of adversity on his way to the USAW squad — including a gruesome ankle injury when he was just 11 years old.

“I broke my ankle really badly which set me back for a year from any sports,” said Mills.
Mills’ description of the injury was certainly an understatement. The Waterboro resident fell 30 feet out of a tree when he was using a rope swing at Lake Arrowhead.
“My ankle was completely sideways,” said Mills, who had two compound fractures and had broken his ankle in four places.
The injury would put him in a wheelchair and Mills would have to face several setbacks on the road to recovery.
“I had a surgery. They couldn’t put it back straight, so I had to stay longer at the hospital and they gave me another surgery. After that I was good to go home for the night, but then I gained staph infection,” Mills recalled. “I had to go back in and they gave me antibiotic and I went through another process, which set me back two months. They said I had a chance of losing my leg. For the next eight months, I was in a wheelchair and then four months on crutches and two months of physical therapy.”
Like most people, Mills would have to fight off thoughts of despair while dealing with the injury.
“At first I really didn’t think it was anything big because I didn’t really know much about it then, but once I started thinking about it, it started to get to me,” Mills said. “I thought I had no way of recovering (to play) any sport.”
The young athlete eventually got back on the court and made his seventh-grade team at Massabesic, but then would face more adversity as he was cut from the eighth-grade squad.
Just like he did after the ankle injury, Mills used the experience as motivation.
“I just wanted to push as hard as I could. Honestly, that setback was the best thing for me,” said Mills. “The injury and (being cut in) eighth grade pushed me to do better and want to be more than just thinking I’m great.”
After the setback in eighth grade, Mills started looking for a place to improve his game and he would find his way to Thunder Basketball in Saco.
“When I came back, I pushed as hard as I could and worked out every day in the gym to try and get to where I am now. I started looking around for new options and new ideas for what to go do for basketball teams and I ended up here at Thunder Basketball and that really helped out,” Mills said.
Thunder coach Abi Davids had plenty of praise for Mills — both as a player and a person.
“The first thing you notice about him is character. He’s a high character kid. He wants to do everything for everybody. He’s the ultimate teammate,” said Davids. “If we need a scorer, he’ll go out and score. If we need someone to facilitate, he’ll facilitate. If we need a rebounder, he’ll do that. He’ll do whatever the team needs to be successful. I genuinely believe that that’s why he’s in the position he’s in now, (with a chance) to do something remarkable.”
Davids was especially impressed with Mills’ ability to fight through the tough times.
“It really is impressive. He’s been through a broken ankle, a broken wrist, and just setbacks along the way. He just keeps fighting,” said Davids.
Mills was looking for a way to get noticed in basketball and found his way to the USA Student Athlete World website.
“I started looking online for college scouting and I found the USA team. I was like, ‘why not look into them and talk to them?’ I started getting in contact with them, had a couple more setbacks with injuries — really hard setbacks that put me back — but then I got a call from the (USA) guy,” said Mills.
Davids believes the Student Athlete World officials made a wise choice in picking Mills for this team.
“Hopefully (my letter of recommendation) helped, but I think that it was him that did it. I think it may have pushed him in the right direction, but it was definitely him,” said Davids. “He’s lucky to be part of it, but they are also lucky to have a kid like him.”
Mills credits Davids with helping him get to where he’s at today.
“I’ve been working with Abi for two years. He’s done a lot of personal training with me and a lot of team training as well. He was one of the biggest reasons why I became who I am as a basketball player now,” said Mills, who was selected out of 1,500 applicants and will be the first-ever Maine player to compete on the USAW team.
Mills is excited for the opportunity to play on an elite team and to get a chance to see a different part of the world.
“I really want to see what this team can do as we are just thrown in together as a group of kids from all around the country. I’m looking forward to the experience, seeing new things and not just seeing new things but meeting new players,” said Mills.
Mills is hoping to use the experience he gains this summer to achieve some goals at Massabesic High School over the next few years.
“I’m hoping to be starting JV (next season) and go from there,” said Mills.
Davids believes Mills has what it takes to become a standout for MHS in the future.
“I think he’s going to follow the traditional high school trend, but I think he’s going to surprise a lot of people as a junior and senior,” said Davids. “I’ve seen players like him before. He’s a hard worker … he’s just undersized, that’s all it is. He’s got the skill, he’s got the knowledge, it’s just as soon as he gets that size down and some physicality, I think he’ll start to stand out.”
— Sports Editor Pat McDonald can be reached at pmcdonald@journaltribune.com or at 282-1535 ext. 322. Follow the Journal Tribune Sports Department on Twitter @JournalTsports.