Kelly Bastow: Giving it her best shot

Kelly Bastow has a deadly three-point shot and leadership skills which would make even the most hardened business executives turn their heads.

But there is more to the hard-working 30-year-old than meets the eye.

Along with her successful basketball career, Kelly has forged a path as a successful physical education teacher and mother.

The challenges that come with these responsibilities have always been welcomed.

“I think you see life through a different lens when you become a parent,” she said. “Your priorities become more than just yourself.

“I suppose the biggest choice for me was being a single mum and making sure I was providing enough for my daughter to develop mentally, physically and emotionally — while still trying to have my own goals and achieve what I wanted to do with my sport.

“But I feel very blessed and lucky to have gone as far as I did, as young as I was. There are not many people who can set themselves an end goal and achieve it.

People spend their whole lives trying to achieve their goals, so I feel blessed, not only for having played at the highest level, but having my degree paid for. That set me up for life. I am in a great job, (at a) great school and feel very supported.

Kelly enjoyed a successful junior representative career in basketball, along with showing excellence in swimming, cross country, netball and especially athletics.

After high school, Kelly was eventually offered a full college scholarship with Texas A&M Kingsville, an NCAA D2 program.

“I suppose I was pretty lucky as a junior to be playing in a national carnival and represent WA,” she said. “The crowds we got there were pretty awesome, but the whole college system is incredible.

“Just the amount of commitment it takes from not only the players but the staff that are associated with the teams (is massive).

“We travelled all throughout Texas and up into Oklahoma, Mississippi and even out to New Mexico to play.”

There is lots of support from alumni and past players who feed money back into the program and are really supportive of the sports which are participated in.

Aside from playing commitments interstate, Kelly outlined how intense fulfilling the academic side of a college scholarship can be.

“The expectation was that we were still committing 100 per cent to our studies as well,” she said.

“Team staff would complete classroom checks the morning after returning from mid week games at 2am to ensure players were in class.

“It was compulsory to be in the study hall weekly and tutorials were mandatory for anyone falling behind in class.

If players were not pulling their weight in the classroom they were excluded from playing.

Armed with experience as a coach, player and parent, Kelly now prides herself on providing the best possible support for every student she teaches.

“The biggest thing for me as an educator and coach is building a relationship with the kids,” she said.

“We know students do not learn when they do not have a safe, positive and welcoming one with their educator.

“I put a lot of time into that relationship and getting to know the kids. Knowing what makes them tick and how to get the best out of them.”

Throw in her resilience to recover from a torn ACL and subsequent Achilles injury on her other leg two years later, Kelly’s legacy in the Bunbury Basketball Association will never be questioned.