A YEAR ago Brett Goodgame was an unemployed basketballer approaching the final season of his career with the Ballarat Miners.Mr Goodgame, 28, had lost his job working in retail for a Ballarat screenprinting and embroidery business and he was wondering what to do.The former Horsham boy had made a life in Ballarat playing in the South East Australian Basketball League with the Miners and working in retail jobs.Along the way he met and became engaged to his girlfriend, Hannah Foyster.Their wedding was scheduled for early in 2010."I was always happy doing loose retail jobs so I could keep playing basketball," Mr Goodgame said."Then I was put off because of the economic downturn."By chance Ms Foyster spotted an ad from Australian ugg boot company Emu Australia looking for a sales representative.So she sent in his resume."I didn't really know anything about it," Mr Goodgame said. "She applied for me."I had always worked in retail but I hadn't gone to university or anything like that."He got the job as sales representative for Victoria and Tasmania and quickly warmed to the task of selling the company's products."We are an Australian-owned company and the sheepskin boots are made in Geelong," he said."We sell to 64 countries and 1200 stores around the world."After five months doing the "hard yards" around Victoria and Tasmania and also playing for the Miners, Mr Goodgame was surprised when he was promoted to national sales manager.He has been in the position for the past two months.His work success eased him into the decision to retire from the Miners at the end of the 2009 season, after more than 200 games with the club.He had planned to play a small role for the Geelong Supercats this year because he spent much of his week in Geelong.But that all went "out the window" a few days before Christmas."I was called into the owner's office at work," he said."We had a chat and they offered me the role of national sales manager for the USA."I'm not going to lie to you, my focus wasn't on work when I left that meeting."Mr Goodgame's head has been spinning ever since. "I initially thought I would be sales manager for California," he said."To put it in perspective, California itself is about four times bigger than Australia."But they then told me I was in charge of the whole USA."We have 12 sales representatives there now and we want to expand rapidly, so they hope we will have 24 reps by the end of the year."Mr Goodgame has had to renew his passport, which he hadn't needed since a basketball tour of the US when he was a teenager.He flew out to his new home in San Clemente, Los Angeles, yesterday for a three-week settling-in period. He is then scheduled to fly back to Australia for his wedding. The honeymoon will be in Thailand. When the couple return they will make a permanent move to the United States."I don't think either Hannah or I have been able to process this properly," he said."We haven't been away from each other for that long before."It will be pretty tough on her because I won't be here to help with the final planning for the wedding."The hardest part about leaving Australia will be saying goodbye to his parents, Norris and Karen Goodgame, who still live in Horsham."Mum has battled breast cancer so it's going to be hard to be away," he said."It is hard to be walking away from family issues like that."But Mum would be disappointed with me if I didn't take this opportunity."Mr Goodgame admits he always dreamed of a future in the US, although this wasn't exactly how he pictured it.He said that as a young bloke he had hoped to play in America one day."I hoped for a playing future in the US one day," he said."I won't be able to play for Geelong Supercats now. Maybe the Los Angeles Lakers will sign me up."* The Wimmera Mail-Times