Two phone calls per year. No visits from family or friends for two years. And to think that Danny Ainge's oldest son, Austin, actually made the decision on his own accord.

On Aug. 16, the Class of 2000 Highland High (Higley, Ariz.) graduate and basketball star will pack a few bags and leave home for the Dominican Republic on a two-year Mormon Mission. The only four times he'll be able speak to his family will come on Mother's Day and Christmas.

Ainge made up his mind a few years ago that he wanted to serve a mission; it's a chance for him to help others. But it wasn't an easy decision, especially because he has to put his lifelong dream of playing college basketball at Brigham Young University on hold.

"It should be good for me, because I've been spoiled my whole life," says Ainge, the son of former BYU and Boston Celtics standout guard Danny Ainge. "It'll be really tough, but that's part of what makes it so rewarding. I probably won't even play basketball but once or twice."

Ainge says he was fortunate that the comparisons between he and his father were few and far between. But that was because he couldn't crack the starting lineup at Highland until his sophomore season, and that was only because the team was struggling.

Ainge's skills were far superior on the diamond (his dad played briefly for the Toronto Blue Jays before joining the Celtics), but he didn't have the passion for baseball that he did for basketball. So he decided to put the bat and glove away for good and focus on improving his skills on the hardwood.

Three years later, he was the Arizona Republic's East Valley Player of the Year, after leading Highland to a state runner-up finish and posting averages of 20.1 points, 5.4 assists and 5.7 rebounds per game. The 6-foot-1, 160-pound guard led the program to its first 20-win season his junior campaign and followed it up with 22 victories his senior season.

The sudden explosion of Ainge's talents triggered talk of a college scholarship. First, it looked as though he could be recruited into a low-tier Division I program, then maybe a middle-of-the-road D-I school. But the teen wanted to go to BYU, the school that he and his family had followed ever since he can remember.

"Every single day of my whole life I'd check the paper to see how they did," says Ainge. "I always wanted to go to BYU. It's always been my goal."

That became reality when he signed with the Cougars. But BYU will have to wait a while before it can reap the benefits of Ainge's basketball prowess , which will unquestionably suffer some over the next 24 months. While he leaves able to beat his dad in a one-on-one contest, Danny will likely win the next game they play upon Austin's return from the Dominican.

"It's very difficult to see your oldest son go away for two years and only get to talk to him on the phone," says Danny, who quit his job as coach of the Phoenix Suns in order to spend more time with Austin and the rest of the family. "But, at the same time, it's great to see him make a decision like this , to make such a sacrifice to help others.

"The last six months I've spent with Austin have been invaluable," adds Danny, now a broadcaster for Turner Sports. "It's been great to be able to do so many things with him that I never would have been able to do if I was still coaching."

Ainge isn't sure exactly what he'll be doing when he gets to the Dominican Republic. But he does know that it will involve six days of work a week, including helping to rebuild the communities from storms and hurricanes, and one day per week of relaxation and doing laundry, grocery shopping and other chores.

"I'm already crying about it," says Austin's mother, Michelle. "We're going to miss him, but we're excited about it. We're excited about how much he'll grow as a person. The hardest things in life are usually the best. I think it's really hard for him, but he's knows he's doing what's right."