NEW FOCUS: FORMER NETBALLER CHASES BASKETBALL START WITH U.S. COLLEGE
OLIVIA DIJKSTRA
A SUCCESSFUL code switch, landing herself a college basketball offer at a Californian University, is set to give Olivia Dijkstra’s sporting career a welcome boost.
Growing up in Christchurch, New Zealand, before moving to the Gold Coast with her family in 2010, Dijkstra has always boasted sporting talent but after excelling in both netball and basketball as a teenager, she was forced to make a challenging but exciting choice.
The 18-year-old grew up playing netball and was a member of Netball Queensland’s elite development squad but deciding, out of curiosity, to attend a college basketball education session at Hillcrest Christian College set her on a completely different path.
“I was in my first week of school for Year 10 and we decided to go to Hillcrest’s talk about college basketball and by the end of that week, I was studying at Hillcrest on a basketball scholarship,” Dijkstra said. “That’s what drove me to pursue that career.”
So in 2017, Dijkstra joined her local basketball association side, the North Gold Coast Seahawks, and began pouring time and effort into her new passion.
“I was so gumby (clumsy) at first, I was so horrible but I kept pursuing it,” she said.
“I wanted to learn and absorb as much as I could as quickly as I could.
“I really wasn’t comfortable with the change of sports but I knew deep down in my heart that having basketball under my wing will help me – but they do correspond well with each other.
“As I kept playing basketball, my netball game was getting stronger day by day.”
Under the guidance of Hillcrest women’s coach Pero Cameron – who Dijkstra and her Kiwi family consider “basketball royalty” – the centre helped her team to win the 2019 basketball state championship. Meanwhile, she also playing for the Bond Bull Sharks in the inaugural netball Sapphire Series.
As she progressed further in basketball, Dijkstra’s netball game markedly improved and she earned selection in the Queensland under-19 state team last year.
Basketball fitness and a positional shift from keeper to shooter led selectors to finally find room for both Dijkstra and fellow Jets giant Charli Bell in the side, which meant she was due to make her national netball championships debut before COVID-19 hit.
“I cried when I found out because I’d been working at it for so long so making it for me was a sign I had a future in netball,” Dijkstra said.
“My fitness improved so much due to basketball and I wasn’t coming off the court puffing. Charli is a bit taller than me, so we’ve always pushed each other for similar spots but I was so stoked when I finally made it.”
But just when she was leaning towards netball, a recruiter from an agency that helps Australian kids get on the radar of American colleges scouted her during Hillcrest’s 2019 title tilt.
“I had to make a video of myself training or playing basketball and from there Biola reached out and were very interested and basically within a couple of weeks I was signed by them,” Dijkstra said. “The process was so quick and once they’ve got you in their sights, they’ll do everything they can, in a good way, to sign you.
“I was walking towards a career in netball but I’ve learned so much so quickly in basketball and I couldn’t pass up on the opportunity to go and play a sport I love and get an education.
“It was a very tough decision to basically put one aside for now and pursue a career in the other.”
As travel restrictions ease, Dijkstra is hoping she can land in the US for orientation week in early August to start her degree in business administration. But until then, she’ll happily continue working at her family’s Boost Juice franchise at Stocklands Burleigh Heads, as the big stage beckons.
“I’m working 25 hours a week but I’ve been doing lots of training on the side because I don’t want to get back into sport having done nothing,” she said.
I WAS WALKING TOWARDS A CAREER IN NETBALL BUT I’VE LEARNED SO MUCH SO QUICKLY IN BASKETBALL AND I COULDN’T PASS UP ON THE OPPORTUNITY