Say hello to Rachel Brewster, the Australian swiss-army knife
You can stop gawking at her accent now.
Yes, Rachel Brewster hails from the Melbourne, Australia area (pronounced Mel-b’n, not Mel-born FYI). Melbourne is a quiet town of a little more than four million people. But there’s more to her than your first impression of how she says words like “no”.
Growing up, Brewster lived not much more than a casual stone’s throw away from the beach. And right next to the big city. But that has all changed with her move to the Beehive State here in the United States. Beaches and dense suburbs have been replaced with mountains and the open spaces of Cache Valley. Not an easy thing.
“It was a huge change.” Brewster said, “I’ve been to some mountains before but they were three hours away from my house.”
When it comes to the cultural differences, Brewster said there aren’t very many differences between the United States and Australia.
“There’s really not that many cultural differences,” she said. “It’s easy because we speak the same language. I get asked a lot if english is my first language, which it is. So culturally it wasn’t really much of a change.”
The reason for Rachel Brewster to travel approximately 8,400 miles to play basketball was pretty simple.
“It’s mainly the experience and the opportunity to be able to play a high level of sport and get a good education at the same time,” she said.
Another reason for Brewster to come to the United States was to get a good education and be able to pay for it. In Australia, student athletes do not receive scholarships. The only way you can get paid is if you play at a high enough level.
It’s no secret the United States is the basketball capital of the world. With the NBA, the growing WNBA and even college basketball, if you want to play at the highest level in basketball, sooner or later you will end up in America.
Basketball fans in Utah are familiar with Australian basketball players. Former Golden State Warriors center Andrew Bogut played his college ball at the University of Utah. And fans of the Utah Jazz have been treated with small forward Joe Ingles and point guard Dante Exum. Bogut and Exum also come from Brewster’s hometown of Melbourne.
The WNBA has also had its fair share of Aussie influence. A total of 27 native-born Australians have suited up for WNBA teams. Most notable among them is three-time MVP Lauren Jackson.
Playing basketball at a higher level does have its downsides, though. In Australia, when practicing with a WNBL (Australian equivalent of the WNBA) team, Rachel Brewster would practice three times a week for an hour and a half. Here, her team practices almost daily for three hours.
Along with the new workload, there’s also the difference in the style of basketball to get used to. Believe it or not, basketball isn’t played the same way all around the world.
“I think American basketball is a lot more faced paced and there’s a lot more athletic players, whereas in Australia it’s more technical and people don’t really rely as much on their athletic abilities,” she said.
Despite the differences in style, Brewster didn’t find it that difficult to adjust.
“The level I play at home actually helped me a lot when I came over here.” she said. “It was pretty much the physical side that I had to step up and get a little bit faster and learn to make decision a little bit quicker.”
Brewster’s upbringing in basketball has not only helped her to adjust to the American style of basketball, it has given her valuable tools. Growing up, Brewster primarily played down low as a post player. As she has gotten older, however, she has gradually moved to guard, playing primarily on the outside.
Even though she no longer plays in the post, Brewster’s experience playing there has made her an incredibly versatile player. She is an all-around player with the ability to do a little bit of everything on the floor. As evidenced by the fact that she leads all returning players in points, rebounds, assists, steals, field goals made, and three-pointers made.
Because of her all-around dominance of the court, Rachel Brewster is considered the top returning player for the team — and is not ignorant of that designation. She is well aware and has very high expectations for herself.
“I put a lot of pressure on myself,” she said. “A lot more than what anyone else does. I definitely feel like I need to step up this season. Definitely build on what I did last season because I still wasn’t 100% happy with my season last season. I played a lot of minutes but I think I could have done a lot more with the minutes I got.”