Good News Story: Darcy Ryder

Darcy Ryder - The boy From Isa

Darcy Ryder made the decision to move from his home town of Mount Isa to the big smoke in Brisbane. In doing so, he decided to follow his dreams of becoming a basketball player.

Darcy arrived at the Brian Kerle Basketball Academy as a raw, hardworking, rugby league playing, 6 foot guard with very little experience in basketball. He had never played at a representative level before joining the Academy, but he had one thing that would seperate him from the rest. Grit.

“On Darcy’s first day, I turned to Toby and said ‘this guy’s got no skills, but damn he plays hard’” - BK Academy Coach Christian Pang

From there Darcy would show up to practice 3 hours early every day, be constantly asking the coaches questions, completing his 2 hour training, did his diploma studies, scrimmaged in the evening, then did skill work on outdoor courts until midnight. “As my Dad always said, try your best and good things happen” said Ryder after the big win.

Fast forward 4 years, and Darcy has captained the BK Academy in the BLIA Cup, Taiwan’s biggest university competition, is a 2 time QSL2 Champion and Spartans MVP, coached by Academy Coach Toby Kerle, and is an NBL1 Champion in Queensland’s top league.

Beyond his own game, Darcy has contributed greatly to the community through his coaching at BK. Darcy coaches 6 teams at the BK Owls, and a representative team at The Southern Districts Spartans. He has inspired thousands of young people through his coaching at clinics, most of whom were in the crowd to watch Darcy win his first NBL1 Championship.

We are proud of Darcy and his accomplishments, but this is just the beginning. None of this came without hard work for Darcy, who is one of the hardest workers we have ever seen. He was not blessed with 7 foot height, a 40 inch vertical or natural talent. But he was blessed with the heart of a champion. And a champion he is.