Like a lot of college athletes, Jaz Shelley has been playing sports for most of her life. It’s easy to say she was born into athletics; both of her parents were basketball players and her two brothers also played college ball in the States.
Born and raised in Victoria, Australia, Shelley lept feet first into soccer, basketball and netball, the latter of which she described as basketball without dribbling. Netball is a unique sport that has the distinction of being one of only a handful that has been explicitly created for women. Shelley admits that netball had a grip on her, and there were times when she didn’t know which direction she would move in as a player.
Eventually, her inevitable path became clear: basketball was the way. Youth basketball in Australia is like the system in Europe: young athletes have the opportunity to begin their journey with club teams that are tied to professional teams in their region. For example, Shelley was named captain of her state team when she was only 15 years old, and she had moved to Canberra to train full-time by the following year.
If you ask some, the European and Australian model provides more equal opportunities for boys and girls alike. As international basketball trainer and philanthropist Tremaine Dalton explains, “The…
