Although it’s not uncommon to hear of the latest graduate from Basketball Australia’s Centre of Excellence to accept a scholarship to play with well-known Division I schools like St Mary’s of California, Boise State, UC Riverside but college hoops is also an option many Australian’s who haven’t been identified by the AIS, their state team or perhaps even be the best player their local team.
Melbourne’s Riley Parkinson is one of those players who, despite playing being a bench player for Diamond Valley’s Under 18s rep team, was able to earn a basketball scholarship to a University in Kansas, the state where basketball was created.
“College basketball was never a realistic goal for me, at least I didn’t think it was. I always thought it was for the top-ranked high school players in the US or maybe Aussies who had played at a junior national level like Andrew Bogut or Patty Mills. Then I found out there were two players from my town who had got the chance to play college basketball in the US, it gave me the chance to say, “why can’t I?” and I took this mentality pushed me to do extra research about the recruiting process.” said Parkinson.
Parkinson decided if he wanted to play college basketball, it was going to be up to himself to gain notice from college coaches… but how to do that all the way from Whittlesea, a Melbourne suburb with a population of 200,000 people.
“First, I spent hours watching videos and reading articles on the best ways to go about getting a scholarship. Many late nights and countless hours had gone by, and I finally decided to put my foot through the door. I set up a Twitter account for myself. I set it up almost like a player profile page. I included things such as my height, weight, position, and the year I graduated high school. After my page was set up, I would then just follow every single college coach I could find, whether that be Division I NCAA, NAIA , or even prep school coaches. I wasn’t picky. After a few days of following coaches, and getting some to follow me back, I started to reach out and message them.” said Parkinson.
Riley’s plan was to provide each coach with a brief summary about himself and provide a link to a highlight tape he had put together. It was a laborious exercise but after a couple of weeks, some of the coaches began to respond. After a couple of he’d been able to have conversations with multiple coaches from across the US, coaches from LA, New York, Maine, Kansas, North Carolina and more.
“I had many coaches show genuine interest, but it wasn’t until coach Artaz at Bethel College in Kansas that I had received a scholarship offer. We connected straight away, when I finally got that offer to play there, it was a dream come true.” said Parkinson.
Riley’s chance to go to Bethel College wasn’t a one-off either. Even though Riley had received the offer to play at Kansas based Bethel College he continued reaching out to other coaches. By the end of a six month period, he had received ten prep school offers, all from various schools, but ultimately it was Bethel College that felt like the best fit.
“I never went to the Australian Institute of Sport, I never played on a national team, or any of that. I was the kid who played essentially two seasons of rep ball, and maybe 3-4 years of playing domestic competition. Before that, I didn’t pick it up. I had no interest in it. It just shows how far hard work can get you. Working out, practising, and eating right will get you to the places you want to go. You just need to put in that extra effort. That’s what got me to where I am and earned me an offer to play college basketball in the United States.” said Parkinson.
Despite the closest NCAA programs being 16,000 kilometres away, there are more opportunities to play college basketball than what the average aussie baller thinks. Matt Woodcock, currently a coach at Baker University, another Kansas based school only two hours away from Bethel took the same route as Riley did to play college basketball, albeit 15 years earlier.
“My journey started out exactly the same as Riley back in 2007. I wasn’t the best player in my team in Gippsland, and I didn’t really have a grasp of the different levels and where I might fit in (or not) but I knew I wanted to get to a US college by any means possible.” Said Woodcock.
Through a very similar process to Riley, albeit a little more old school using emails instead of social media as “Twitter wasn’t really a thing here in Australia in 2007” says Woodcock.
“My strategy was to send as many emails as possible with no reservation on level or area and see if there was any interest from coaches. The great thing about Aussies finishing up high school in November is that we can use a gap year to dip our toes in the recruiting water, see if there is any interest and either go for it or go to uni without really too much risk in – both options are still open without closing one before you have to.” said Woodcock.
Through copious emails, Woodcock received a scholarship to play at Southeast Community College in Nebraska. He spent two seasons there before moving from the Community College to Columbia College, which plays in the higher NAIA division. There Matt had two successful years; winning one conference championship as well as reaching the NAIA national tournament in both years before transitioning into a coaching career at both his alma mater Columbia and now Baker University.
“College has been great for me. I didn’t even think I would get here when I was 17 but to play four years and continue things through my coaching is a dream come true.” Said Woodcock.
“If I had to give ay advice to players keen to follow Riley’s path or mine, it would be that players who are really committed and persistent in their pursuit of college basketball can make it happen if they can add value to a team. There are many levels of play and scholarship levels so finding the right combination of what a team is looking for and pairing that with how you can impact that team is what it’s all about for those looking for a chance to play while continuing with school. Prioritizing best-fit over highest-level made my playing experiences very enjoyable and has provided some pretty cool opportunities and life experiences along the way.” Said Woodcock.
Dan Boyce is a die-hard Sydney Kings fan who grew up in Melbourne during the roaring 90's of Australian Basketball and spent far too much time collecting Futera NBL Basketball cards.
