Q: I’m here with Brisbane Capitals, college superstar at Washington State university and also Boomer’s Squad member Brock Motum. Obviously the stadium looks a lot different to how it looked 3 months ago after the recent floods, what are your thoughts?

BM: Yeah I think it looks great, BBI have done a really good job to clean it up and I think it looks a lot better than what it used to.

BC: On that Brock, obviously a big thank you to your contribution towards the flood relief and the people of WSU, it has helped a lot and the money was put to good use. How did people over there respond to seeing such images on the web and news of where you grew up playing basketball?

BM: Yeah well I saw a lot of the images on “facebook” and I printed them out and took them to a meeting with the student athletic committee and asked if they could help out, similar to what they did for the people devastated by the earthquake in Haiti. So they modelled it around that, and at a couple of our home games they would collect money from the crowd to help out. I’m just glad we could raise a little bit of money to help out this place.

BC: It was very much appreciated, on WSU, you just finished your sophomore year, from all the feedback and the stats, you’re progressively getting better every year now. What’s the plan for you next year going into your junior year?

BM: Well last year wasn’t a great year for me, so I had to improve a lot in the time I was home and then this previous season was a bit better, but I’ve still got a lot to improve on so whilst I’m home I’ll do a lot of work and try to get better and make those improvements as a player. Looking to the future I’ll just always be working on my game and see where it takes me hopefully in the right direction.

BC: There’s a huge following of Motum’ fans here in Brisbane and also in south east Queensland, and we are seeing highlights of you on ESPN. Give the fans a quick insight into the differences of playing ball here and then playing in the NCAA and then playing in front of huge crowds and the atmosphere over there in the states?

BM: Over here the game is still developing whilst over there it has been played a long while and has a different style of game and a lot of athletes. In Australia we have a different culture, in the states it’s really fast tempo and a lot of up and down, they are just variety of athletes, whereas the type of player is typically shooters and we have different moulds of players, but the game and atmosphere over there, from where I’m from is a college town of like 23000 and 20000 of that go to the university and some of our games people will camp for like a couple of nights just to get tickets. When it gets sold out you run out and the bands playing and the 13000 or 14000 fans are screaming because there isn’t much else to do in our town except follow the ball. It’s pretty good just to run out because it gives you so much energy and every time you make a good play the momentum builds and there’s a rush with that. That’s just College sports has a lot to offer any player and I think we can bring that back here, a lot of the juniors developing whether it be they go over or stay in the NBL/WNBL I think our crowd needs to get behind them and support all our young players.

BC: Going back to your junior years, what tips would you give to the kids aspiring to be like Brock Motum, what would be the thing that kept you working to get you be the player you are today, on ESPN at a division 1 college in the NCAA?

BM: Always have a goal in mind, at the end of the day I just wanted to play basketball professionally and do something I love doing for the rest of my life, so in the back of my mind in all aspects of my life id always keep that goal in mind. And no matter what I did I’d always try to better myself just to achieve that goal, sure you need small achievable goals, to get the big goal step by step, but you just have to keep that in the back of your mind. When I was a junior playing it didn’t matter if I had let downs or great times I always knew if I kept working id achieve my main goal.

BC: With being back home, what are your plans whilst your home? There’s obviously a big difference in the culture of the two lives almost you have in that being at WSU and now being home, what’s the things to do?

BM: Obviously you need a break from basketball after spending 12mths of the year playing it. I like to spend time with my family and girlfriend, I like to catch up with my friends I grew up with and where I’m from over there I go to the shopping centre, I go to the beach, I love the weather, I just do as much as I can away from basketball, but when it is time to work I work.

BC: You’re only here for a couple of months and then you go back, going into your junior year this year, people are going to start to ask what are the plans for Brock Motum after college basketball? Any aspiration to come back and play or are you going to see where this might take you overseas?

BM: Well I’d love to play overseas and make myself a better player and earn money from playing basketball and like I always aspired to do and play basketball at the highest level. At the end of the day I want to finish my career, whether it be I get the chance to play in the NBA or play in the leagues in Europe, or play in the NBL even. Aside from basketball I want to be a psychologist so whether its business psychology or child psychology it’s that sort of stuff I’m interested in so when I’m about 35 or finished playing that’s the stuff I aspire to do

BC: You’re a student athlete, and I think that’s something here kids fail to recognise early is that the student part comes first, and that the student part is the most important in the collegiate level. What is the day-to-day regime for a student athlete aspiring to be a professional basketball player or a psychologist?

BM: It’s very much like school, so in a week you’d go to 3 classes on a Monday, 2 on a Tuesday, same 3 on a Wednesday, 2 on a Thursday and then the same 3 again on a Friday. That will usually go from 8am to about 1pm depending on what your schedule is and then after that you’ll grab some lunch, practice from 2.30pm to 5.30pm tonight. Then after practice will be getting study done, and then you have to factor in games and travel days and it can very busy but it’s extremely rewarding.

BC: That sounds like a rigorous schedule, doing that in most cases Monday to Sunday and getting on the road can be very tough, how do you keep yourself motivated like there must be some weeks you play 2 games and a short turn around and ask yourself is this all worth it?

BM: You need pretty good time management and then you need to get your priorities straight. What you want to accomplish first and then you got to stay motivated, it’s what you are there to do, so everything you do you have to do to the best of your ability, I think that’s what keeps me motivated just trying to be the best person, student and athlete I can be

BC: Last year you were named in the boomers squad, now because of injury you were unable to participate at that camp. That’s a huge accomplishment and accolade for someone of your age as someone who many people have seen you progress through the junior ranks and work hard to do the right things to get to that level, any aspirations to play for Australia in the near future?

BM: Definitely, hopefully I can get myself healthy and i can attend some camps next year in the lead up to the Olympics, but that’s always been my dream to play for my country which has done so much for me basketball wise and it’d be a dream to represent my country at the Olympics one day.

BC: Brock, thank you again for your contribution with the flood relief, it was hugely appreciated and obviously gone to good use. Good luck with the remainder of your college career, we will be following you very closely and hopefully very soon we will see you at an Olympics or in a boomers jersey, thank you for your time.

BM: No worries and thank you.