FOR any Australian with a dream of heading to a US College, the past 18 months has been a particularly difficult time trying to win that coveted scholarship.
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Ballarat Miners up-and-comer Ethan Fiegert has been caught up in the craziness of the past year-and-a-half, but has finally landed on his feet, earning a scholarship to the college of his choosing in Missouri.
Fiegert, 19, will fly out next Monday to take up a four-year scholarship at Culver-Stockton College an NAIA member which plays in the Heart of America Athletic Conference.
For Fiegert it will be his first trip to the United States given that recent opportunities to impress in person have been cancelled due to the ongoing pandemic.
"I've been trying to get recruited to colleges for a couple of years but this coach liked what they saw in the game film I sent over," he said.
"What made me love this particular college, is I felt the coach really wanted me. There were some others that I felt I had to sell myself to them, but this particular coach made me feel like I was the one they wanted."
The other curve ball thrown at Australians trying to head to the college system is that 2020 was deemed an off-year, meaning players were given an extra season at their colleges.
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"For Australian's we've always had to send over film to coaches, but normally, we could go over there and play in tournaments and be in front of them to be recruited," Fiegert said.
"This was a lot harder, had to be on a lot of zoom calls and the players all got an extra year because of the COVID situation which meant college's were taking in less players, which made it even more difficult."
This season Fiegert has captained the Miners youth league team and also had an opportunity to play a few matches with the senior team.
While his senior minutes have generally been limited, he has relished the opportunity to work with many of the senior players and coach Brendan Joyce.
Also for the past four years he has worked at the Miner Dome helping with supervision on the court and more recently working the bar and bistro, gaining an appreciation for every part of the business.
"I've been lucky enough to play with the youth league under 23 teams and also the NBL1 team," he said. "I haven't had too many minutes in the senior team, I've been happy with the youth league team and i've been happy with my form over the season.
"It's been good to be around, train under Brendan Joyce and learn playing next to a lot of the bigger bodies."
