See the heartwarming reason Aussie basketballer took on massive man-eating saltwater crocodile and other deadly animals in insane video
A professional basketball player from the Northern Territory is gaining international attention after choosing to test his skills against killer crocodiles, dingoes and even an ostrich – all in the name of helping children.
Freddy Webb is a professional basketball player who last played for the Eastern Mavericks in NBL One, the second Australian basketball league below the NBL, after previous stints with Wollongong and Mackay.
He is the son of Grahame Webb, a renowned scientist and the founder of Crocodylus Park, a crocodile conservation and research center in Darwin.
Freddie grew up in a unique environment, influenced by his father’s passion for wildlife and crocodile conservation and his own love of basketball and his desire to pursue a career in sports.
Now he has found a way to merge the two.
Freddy regularly shares coaching videos with skills sessions on his Instagram account to promote his kids coaching business, Adapt Basketball.
Professional basketball player Freddy Webb (pictured) was looking for a unique way to promote his coaching clinics for children in the Northern Territory
Going one-on-one with giant saltwater crocodiles is not a training exercise for the faint of heart
He recently took the term “adaptation” literally, showing videos of himself performing basketball drills with a series of deadly animals at Crocodylus Park.
The footage shows him fighting his way through snapping man-eating saltwater crocodiles, practicing defensive moves against deadly native dingoes and even simulating a quick escape with an ostrich in hot pursuit.
‘The ostriches scare me every time. The fact that you guys are in the same room scares me,” a follower commented on the video.
His video has generated a lot of interest from hoop fans around the world, impressed by his skills and courage.
“That’s how Matthew Dellavedova learned to beat Curry in that one NBA Finals,” one person wrote.
“This is what Space Jam could have been,” said another amazed viewer.
“This gives me the ‘if you can dodge a wrench, you can dodge a ball’ vibe,” wrote another, referencing the comedy classic Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story.
Although saltwater crocodiles are deadly, attacks in Australia are rare, with an average of one to two fatalities per year and 30 deaths in the past 25 years.
Instead of cones, Webb uses live saltwater crocodiles to practice cutting through the opposition (pictured)
The Territorian also tested himself against dingoes in the heartbreaking video
Webb practices his fast break by holding it away from an ostrich in one of the less life-threatening parts of the clip
Most attacks occur in Queensland and the Northern Territory, often in areas with warning signs or during the wet season when crocodiles are more active.
Dingo attacks in Australia are also relatively rare, with 279 reported incidents, including 39 major attacks and one catastrophic attack, between 1996 and 2001.
Most attacks occur in popular tourist areas such as Fraser Island (K’gari) in Queensland, where dingoes can become more aggressive if they associate humans with food.
The last recorded fatal dingo attack on a human occurred in 2001, when Clinton Gage, a nine-year-old boy, was killed by a dingo near Waddy Point on K’Gari.
Most of the reasons why there have been so few fatalities in recent years are because there have been outspoken awareness and education campaigns to discourage tourists from getting close to the beasts.
But Webb said he had no problem putting himself in immediate danger.
“I started my own basketball coaching and mentoring company called Adapt Basketball and I was never really on social media or anything like that,” he shared News Corp.
‘Actually the idea was a bit of Christmas fun for all the kids who have been training with me all year or in recent months, trying really hard, just to make them laugh a bit.
‘It was a lot of fun… I had people around me making sure nothing would go wrong, but probably something about the bigger crocodiles, like Speckles, is that when you see this big thing coming out, you’re so determined. You on the waterfront, you just think, ‘I gotta get out,'” he continued.
“It was kind of like, what are you doing, why are you dribbling a basketball… now go away, get the f–k out, so the heart rate gets up a little bit when you see them so close, you realize them’ I’m so big, so powerful, but I didn’t really think ‘one slip and you’re done’, it wasn’t like that.’
Webb’s unorthodox training methods come with a huge warning: don’t try this at home.
‘I think in a funny way it’s the same as when you see Max Verstappen driving 300 kilometers per hour on a circuit. “I’m not going to do the same thing he did,” he said. .
“I grew up with these animals, I’m pretty attuned to how they work, and I had people ready in the background if something went wrong, so I was a lot safer than probably what it seems in the video.”
Webb also said he would have the advantage in a true 1-on-1 scrimmage with a crocodile – as long as it was on land.
“They get tired too quickly,” he said.
“But anything that’s in the water, they got me.”