WHILE Matt Andronicos’ imposing size has always helped him stand out in a crowd, it is the 19-year-old’s rapidly developing ability on the basketball court that has been capturing the attention of all the right people lately.
The 208-centimetre – or 6’10” in the old scale – East Kurrajong product recently accepted a scholarship to join the Australian Institute of Sport’s (AIS) world-renowned basketball program and will move to Canberra next month to begin full-time training.
It has been an amazing journey for Andronicos after he only tried out for his first representative basketball team in the under 18s age group. From there he went on to spend time in the basketball program at the New South Wales Institute of Sport before being offered the chance to tour China with the AIS squad in June.
“My coach at the New South Wales Institute of Sport put my name forward for the tour and at the end of it the AIS coach asked me if I wanted to come down to the AIS for a full-time scholarship,” Andronicos said.
“It was really exciting.”
Andronicos is confident he can adapt to living away from home while also managing the tough training and diet regime that is expected of AIS athletes.
“I boarded during high school so being away from home isn’t new to me. I think I’ll really enjoy being on campus there,” he said.
“At the New South Wales Institute of Sport we’ve had nutrition lectures and things like that. Also over the past year I’ve been really watching what I eat nutrition wise so I think I should adapt to that side of things fairly well.”
Andronicos plays as a centre and has his sights set on one day replicating the likes of Andrew Bogut and Luc Longley by representing his country.
“My ultimate goal is to play professionally and even play for the Boomers one day. After my time at the AIS I’ll hopefully look to play with an NBL team,” he said.
Andronicos already has a foot in the door when it comes to achieving his NBL dream, having recently taken up a role as a development player with the Sydney Kings.
He has been working closely with Kings coach Ian Robilliard while also being taken under the wing of Kings centre and last year’s NBL Most Valuable Player runner-up Julian Kazzouh.
“The level of coaching there is the highest I’ve ever had, it’s just fantastic,” he said.
“The group of guys there are really good and the skill level of all the players is outstanding which kind of forces me to step up.”
Despite his father only being 6’1” and his mother 5’7”, Andronicos said he was always tall for his age. His first slam-dunk was at the age of 15. Even in basketball stadiums – a place where you would expect those of above-average height to be catered for – Andronicos occasionally finds himself ducking his head to squeeze under a doorway.
“You would think in basketball stadiums of all places they would have higher doorways, but some of them don’t,” Andronicos said.
“[Being tall] has it’s pros and cons. It’s great when you’re in a crowd because you can see over everyone, but buying clothes and shoes has always been a hassle.
“I remember in China when we were given all our gear I had tracksuit pants that said 9XL and a jersey that was a 7XL, just because their sizing is a lot smaller.”
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