Vanderputten Enjoys Coast-to-Coast Trip

Before Pero Vasiljevic, there was Gavin Vanderputten.

In fact, Vanderputten is still around, playing his final season at center for Pepperdine.

As a 6-foot-10 exchange student from Perth, Australia, he caused a stir in 1991 when he enrolled at Trabuco Hills High in Mission Viejo for his senior year. Vanderputten averaged 20.4 points, 11.0 rebounds and 3.1 blocked shots, and was named All-Southern Section.

“Some things were said,” Vanderputten said. “The Mater Dei coach dubbed our school ‘St. Trabuco,’ and said we recruited like a Catholic school.”

Like Vasiljevic, Vanderputten stayed with the family of a teammate, in his case point guard Brett Poulas.

“The Poulas family applied to be a host family and I requested to be placed in this area,” Vanderputten said. “When their name came up I got placed with them.”

Trabuco Hills Coach Rainer Wulf, who played professionally in Australia in 1985, is a longtime friend of Mike Dunlap, coach of the Adelaide professional team--the 36ers. Wulf, however, said Dunlap had nothing to do with Vanderputten’s placement.

“Exchange programs try to match kids with families that have similar interests,” Wulf said. “If a kid says he wants to be placed in Orange County with someone who plays basketball, the program tries to find that match in a host family.

“It worked out well with the Poulas family. Their older son was off at college so they had an extra room.”

Wulf said Vanderputten’s maturity enabled him to make the experience worthwhile. And the exposure enabled him to achieve his primary goal.

“The reason I came over here was to get a college scholarship,” Vanderputten said.

Vanderputten, a 7-foot, 225-pound senior, is on schedule to graduate in December. He plans to play in the Australian professional National Basketball League, which is steadily gaining popularity.

“Australia is really taking off with basketball,” Wulf said. “Ten years ago when I played there it was on the back of the sports page. I went back three years ago and they were selling out full-size arenas.”

Players who come to the United States invariably return to their hometown teams because of loyalty. Vanderputten could negotiate with any NBL team, but he said he will return to Perth.

“It is a very organized club system,” Wulf said. “Players begin in youth leagues with their club and stay with the same club all the way through to the professional ranks.”

Vanderputten is not surprised that his countrymen are following his lead to the U.S.

“The level of coaching is so much better here than in Australia,” he said. “Basketball is such an integral part of life here. In Australia we’d only practice two or three times a week and play one game. Here, it is so much more intense.

“Your opportunity to improve is infinitely better than it is in Australia.”