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Ben Valentine was born in Nelson to parents who both played basketball, so it’s no surprise that he’s ended up living and breathing the sport.

“I grew up in Nelson, the basketball mecca of New Zealand,” says Ben. “It was a natural choice to play since my parents were already involved and it didn’t hurt that I was quite a tall young fella too.”

Ben first started playing basketball at the age of eight when he was at primary school and kept playing right through college, where he also coached some of the intermediate and junior teams.

After leaving the shores of Nelson to attend university in Christchurch, Ben soon found himself playing for a local club and was lucky enough to be spotted by Tab Baldwin, who moved him to Auckland, where he began his NBL career playing for the Auckland Stars.

“I played four seasons for the Auckland Stars and during that time I was also picked for the New Zealand Development Team,” recalls Ben. “We went to the US and Portugal and played against some pretty amazing teams. It was an awesome experience to find out exactly what we were up against around the world. They were bigger and faster than us!”

It wasn’t long before Ben was offered a scholarship to play basketball in the US and he found himself at Pikeville College in Kentucky which was a bit of a culture shock, coming from Auckland.

“To come from a city like Auckland with one million people, to a town like Pikeville with a population of about 6000 was like going into a different world. I certainly stood out riding around campus on my bicycle and soon became known as ‘that crazy guy from New Zealand’,” says Ben.

After three and a half years playing for Pikeville, Ben was chosen to try out for a place on the East Kentucky Miners team in the CBA competition (that’s a couple of levels below the NBA).

“Although I didn’t quite make the cut, it was a great experience,” says Ben.