World Stage Opportunities - Young Country Athlete

Rhiannon needs your help!!

On the 24th of October 2023, a random email landed in our inbox, from the Head Coach of Basketball

at Rome City Institute. This email outlined their programs for student-athletes, advised they were

searching for the next season’s student-athletes to study and play basketball at a high level in Italy,

and that they believed Rhiannon was a good fit.

The program offers a life-changing opportunity to live, play basketball, and complete her final year

of High School in the heart of Rome. At the end of the program, through Rome City Institutes’

partnership with USPA (United States Performance Academy) an NCAA (National Collegiate Athletic

Association) approved school, Rhiannon will have the opportunity to sign with an American College

to continue her international basketball journey.

Rhiannon has had the passion and discipline of an athlete from the young age of 8, starting her love

for routine, training, and competing in swimming, where she won many awards, broke records, and

represented the ACT at state-level competition at just 9 years old. Deciding she wanted to try

basketball, we juggled booth sports for many years. Still, ever since Rhiannon suited up for her very

first game of under-12s basketball, she had a dream of both representing Australia as a member of

the Opals and of playing overseas. In 2020 Rhiannon hung up her swimsuit and goggles to focus

more on basketball.

We have never been able to afford to send Rhiannon to performance basketball camps or follow the

Elite pathways to progress her skills, but instead of giving up, Rhiannon has spent thousands of hours

researching and watching game footage, practicing and working hard on what she learned. From the

very beginning of her basketball journey, Rhiannon has played across a range of competitions, from

her own division and age right through to the women’s division in domestic competition. Her

representative basketball journey started at the age of 10 years with the Goulburn Bears where she

played for 3 years. In this time with Goulburn, her teams had some great achievements winning their

division U12s John Martin Country Cup (2019) Winning NSWPSSA and achieving Southern School

champions (2018), and making the SESA (South East Sport Academy) team (2020) sadly this

competition was cancelled due to covid.

In 2021 we made a 400km move to Albury, the home of Lauren Jackson to open more opportunities

with stronger, more advanced programs and competitions. From 2021 until now, Rhiannon has

represented Albury Cougars, Wodonga Wolves, Xavier High School and had the opportunity as a

youth development player of the Albury Wodonga Border Bandits to train alongside the women’s

NBLOne team and Lauren Jackson herself. These achievements have been from Rhiannoon’s hard

work and pure grit. Not only has Rhiannon dedicated her time working hard on developing her own

skills, but she has also put in 5 years of countless hours refereeing basketball games and

competitions and given up her time over the last couple of years to mentor and coach her very own

U12s boys teams, something she did for her little brother to embrace his love for the game.

Over the years Rhiannon has been invited to camps and program’s from teams and clubs in Chicago,

Miami, Washington, Dallas, Paris and Abu Dhabi, but we have always turned them down, due to

affordability. It breaks our hearts every time we get those emails and we know we can’t make it

happen.

The difference between previous invitations and this opportunity with Rome City Institute is, that

previous invites have been for short camps or workshops, where Rome is an entire year as a

student-athlete, gained on her own merit, academically and athletically.

Since October, we have pulled together, academic records, video clips, and game stats across 2

states and attended late-night Zoom with the staff of Rome City Institute.

Last month Rhiannon received a fantastic, early Christmas surprise. Rome City Institute has offered

her a scholarship of €20,225.00 equal to $33,043.00AUD. But again, we are faced with the challenge

of affordability, while the offer is very generous, when you take into account an entire year in Rome;

accommodation, travel and visa costs, insurance, and external club fees, the total cost of the trip

comes to approximately $75,000.00AUD. With the cost of living and as parents of 6, we know all too

well, how hard times are. We are asking your help to raise another $15,000.00AUD towards sending

Rhiannon off to chase her dreams.

See Rhiannon's 2023 highlight video on this link;

https://l.facebook.com/l.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fdrive.google.com%2Ffile%2Fd%2F1ggl7UanBncp27QwYfiydkCpcKG19Auht%2Fview%3Ffbclid%3DIwAR2ySk3XQirsPnBWXS_6ERN0PPSq9GndnvNaPXWp3Rf2ayG91VX7Fnv5HYk&h=AT3ZUeOCAqfEBlelReyXH9QFZrhRtYppZ4_go09w0nlCgnqiIoSCvwbdFx1ZK-hxOuBhAkzb2zalbfigtOP0y7oZCezSKtlYyTsD-rxvS6j8kcIzFz6Ojb1ophfgPXyG1iY