Basketball: Trailblazer headed for Nebraska

For most 18-year-olds a "free ride" equates to a lift to school or a part-time job, but not for Tauranga Girls' College old girl Makayla Daysh.

Her trip - the first of its kind for a female Tauranga basketballer - will take the six-foot (1.83m) centre/power forward from the New Zealand winter and into the Chadron State College Eagles basketball system, where she will go toe-to-toe with some of the best athletes in the NCAA.

Spoilt for choice, Daysh opted for the college over similar offers from California State and the University of Alaska Fairbanks.

"It's up in the northwest of Nebraska, so it's a country school with a smaller population," Daysh said before coaching Tauranga City Basketball's under-15 B team at Merivale School yesterday.

"It's a college town so I thought it would be like back here because I live on a farm. LA would have been cool for shopping - it's about two hours from Beverly Hills - I would have been living the high life."

Daysh was spotted by American college scouts while on a New Zealand under-20 tour to Tasmania last year.

"I was just over there playing for New Zealand, but it wasn't till I got home and got the email that it started to sink in that I could go to the States and play ball.

"Some schools then emailed me asking for footage, so I put up a YouTube page and then they contacted me and offered me deals."

The offer she accepted includes four years' tuition, board, meals and Nike shoes and practice gear, but in reality it could be worth much more.

"The experience and atmosphere in playing in the NCAA will be incredible, but obviously if it leads to the WNBA then that would be pretty awesome. But I'd also look to come back here to play for the Tall Ferns."

Daysh plans to study primary school teaching, but according to Tauranga City Basketball's Rachel Gwerder, she has already shown the younger generation plenty.

"I guess she's trailblazing for all the other female athletes in town. There's a bunch of other girls coming up who can now see there is a pathway to the States, which is brilliant.

"There's potentially, in two years' time, three or four girls who could go to the States if they choose to.

"She's a great kid, she's here on a Sunday morning coaching. She's giving back before she's even finished taking."