By Russell Bennett
FOR Matt D’Arcy’s entire career he’s had people telling him he won’t make it – that he’s too short, he’s too small, and he’s not strong enough.
Well, D’Arcy is no stranger to proving people wrong and he gets his best opportunity so far to do just that when he jets off to the United States at the end of the month to begin his college basketball career.
The diminutive point guard is embarking on a four-year scholarship to Green Mountain College in Poultney, Vermont.
The NCAA Division 3 school in the North Atlantic Conference will be home to D’Arcy for the foreseeable future and he’s still trying to wrap his head around the fact that a dream he’s had for so long is coming true.
The opportunity of a lifetime came through D’Arcy’s former coach at the Hallam Senior Sports Academy, David Wyatt.
“He was in contact with this coach and offered to send him my mixtape,” D’Arcy explained.
“A few days later they got in touch and said they were interested. This was maybe two months ago.”
But D’Arcy had all but given up hope of securing a scholarship this year. It wasn’t until the night before he was due to start his sports development course at Victoria University that the 19-year-old received an email with the college offer.
“Playing basketball in America is all I ever wanted to do,” D’Arcy said from the stands at the Cardinia Life Stadium in Pakenham, looking over Court 1 – which used to be his home floor for so long.
D’Arcy said if it wasn’t for the endless support from his parents, team mates and coaches – such as Wyatt, current Warriors Big V Youth League coach Simo Pajdic and former Division 2 men’s coach Ryan Rogers – there’s no way he would be in the position he’s currently in.
He’s heard the coaches at Green Mountain like his speed and court awareness from the footage they’ve seen on his mixtape, and now he’s setting out to showcase the rest of his talent.
“I had a few coaches telling me I was too small and that I’d only ever be a specialist guard playing against another smaller point guard,” D’Arcy said.
“But David kept telling me ‘you’ve got this, you’re not too small’.”
D’Arcy isn’t afraid of mixing it up physically, either. At 170 centimetres and around 70 kilograms he might be often outsized, but he has one hell of a big heart.
“If I get a hard foul I won’t back down,” he said.
“You can’t try and scare me.
“If someone pushes me or tries to get in my head, that’s when it clicks and the adrenaline starts pumping and I just want to beat them every single time down the floor.”
