Basketball Ballarat young-star Ethan Fiegert is headed for the United States after accepting a scholarship offer with Culver-Stockton College in Missouri.
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The announcement ends what Fiegert described as a stressful period, involving constant emails with prospective programs and cutting up footage of his games to send to coaches.
"I probably sent almost 1000 emails to heaps of coaches, assistant coaches, director of operations and then you're just lucky to get an email back," he said.
"I guess it was just really relieving to finally get this offer and accept it and it was just a relief for all my hard work and training over the years."
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The 18-year-old says the strong relationship he has built with coach Aaron Hill was a key reason for picking the Wildcats.
"The relationship I've built with the coach over the past two to three months [has been great]. We were texting everyday, on zoom calls," he said.
The season won't kick off until September, with Fiegert planning to move on campus in August. It means that Basketball Ballarat's Youth League and Miners team's will have his services for the majority of their respective seasons.
Fiegert has to maintain amateur status while playing in Ballarat in order to be eligible to play college basketball, which means no pay or agent services while playing for the Miners. He says the association has been great in assisting with his development since starting basketball with Phoenix in the under-12s.
"I've played under-12s to under-18s in the junior years and then playing Youth League. It's been very good in my development becoming a leader and a good man," he said.
Miners head coach Brendan Joyce says it's exciting for Ethan to be heading to a great school.
"I understand the coach is pretty good, the school is a very good school and I think he'll be a really good player," he said.
Fiegert plans on studying mathematics in his four-years with the school.
Culver-Stockton play in the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics. Former NBA stars like Scottie Pippen have come out of the competition.
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