Jordan set to live the dream in South Dakota
CORIO Bay Stingrays Youth League star Jordan O’Leary will live out a lifelong dream after signing to play college basketball in the US.
O’Leary will leave in August to take up study at the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology to pursue a degree in computer engineering while playing basketball in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division 2.
“You could say it’s a dream come true – I’ve always wanted to go to the US, play some basketball, get a good education before I come back to Australia to continue my journey,” O’Leary said.
“My real goal is to just get a good education – they’ve got a really good engineering program at South Dakota, so I’m doing computer engineering and looking to major in mechatronics and robotics.
“And I’m looking to hopefully get my masters over there and then I’ll come back to Australia and go to uni in Melbourne and do some business.”
O’Leary started his basketball journey as a 10-year-old, joining Pivot City where he became good friends with Cohen Blythe.
The pair shared an inseparable journey, representing Basketball Geelong in four straight Country Victoria titles among other representative honours, until they reached under-16s where O’Leary chose to join the Melbourne Tigers and Blythe headed to the Stingrays.
But O’Leary found himself at the Stingrays last year, where he and Blythe have since starred for the Youth League side, and Blythe too has found himself a new home in the US, signing at Reedley College in Fresno, California.
While excited about the US basketball challenge, O’Leary played down any professional ambitions.
“Basketball-wise, I’m not really looking to go anywhere professionally,” he said.
“I just want to hone my skills and improve if possible, so when I come back I can play for the (Stingrays) State Champ men’s team hopefully and be an asset for them.
“If I like it (in America) I might stay but if I don’t I might come home early.
“It’s exciting but it’s the fact I’m leaving everything behind and won’t know anyone over there, it’ll be really weird.”
It will be the first time O’Leary, 19, hasn’t been coached by dad Tim.
“He’s coached me since I was about six years old,” he said.
“I don’t think I’ve had another coach; he’s coached me my entire life.
“It will definitely be weird having him not coaching me.”