Talk about a basketball education
STEPH RANGI Vincent Keremete-Davies has ticked two goals off his bucket list and now he is aiming even higher.
Last year, Keremete-Davies (22) was selected to play college basketball in the United States, after being invited by the head coach of the Las Vegas based IMPACT Basketball Academy to train, play, and tour with the elite organisation in 2016.
Since August 2017, KeremeteDavies has been attending West Valley College in California while also playing college basketball - a dream he had worked towards since he was a youngster.
He returned home to Taupo¯ from the school year on May 26 but is preparing himself to leave New Zealand again for the US in August.
This time, he will be working towards getting transferred to a bigger college. Over the past year, living in America has been a bit of an eye-opener for Keremete-Davies.
Not only did he have to study full time, he had to pass 12 academic courses each semester and hold a 2.0 Grade Point Average – and that was just to be eligible to play college basketball.
But that didn’t stop him from living his dream and his team – The Vikings – made the playoffs in October which took them right through to February this year.
‘‘We played at least 20-30 games [for the playoffs]. There were quite a few games, it was awesome.’’
Going back this year won’t be so hard to Keremete-Davies as he now knows what to expect.
‘‘It took me awhile to get accustomed to the education there. You have to go to school and take it seriously,’’ he said. ‘‘You have to really relish it and commit to the process of it all.’’
And that was what he did but what he couldn’t quite get over was how big a deal basketball is over in the US.
‘‘The passion for the sport is on a different level. It’s pretty much how we look at rugby.’’