High school students in the future might find themselves being taught by a former basketball star standing at the front of the classroom.
Clint Steindl – captain of Tasmania’s NBL team the JackJumpers – might be at a high point in his sporting career right now but he has already started making preparations for a life after basketball, currently studying his Master of Teaching at the University of Tasmania.
“Sporting careers can end quite abruptly, whether it be through injury or not picking up another contract. So I put time into making sure there were avenues in place post basketball,” he said.
And with employment in the Australian education and training sector expected to increase by 12.2% over the next five years, Clint’s choice of a future career path is a pretty safe one.
Clint spent four years studying for his degree in business administration at Saint Mary’s College in the US, while he was playing college basketball in California.
It was back home in Australia, where he was playing for the Perth Wildcats in Western Australia, that he began contemplating an outlet from basketball and a friend suggested he could return to study.
Clint’s wife, fellow professional basketballer Kayla, was already a qualified teacher and Clint decided to follow a similar path, commencing a degree in secondary school teaching at Edith Cowan University.
In 2021 Clint was named inaugural captain of Tasmania’s new NBL team, the JackJumpers, and he moved to Kingston south of Hobart in August that year.
At the start of 2022, he switched his degree to the University of Tasmania.
“I started studying part-time outside of my full-time sporting commitments back in 2019 and it gave me sense of achievement outside of basketball,” he said.
“I chose secondary teaching because I know how important it is to develop a relationship with students during those pivotal years, and how teachers can help and support you well beyond high school.”
Clint is currently specialising in teaching humanities and social sciences and plans to use the basketball off-season to try and pick up some extra units.
“I’m studying completely online, which has really helped with flexibility, scheduling and time-management,” he said.
“With my basketball schedule and a young growing family, it would be difficult for me to physically get into the uni campus every week, so online learning has really favoured me in that regard.
“I have my first professional experience coming up soon and I’m really looking forward to getting into the classroom and doing some real-time teaching because that’s where you get to learn on the fly!”
And Clint is thoroughly enjoying Tasmanian life in general.
“My family and I, love it here and really enjoy the area we live in,” he said. “The (NBL) club were tremendous in facilitating my families move down here, Tasmania is an amazing place.”
The education and training sector in Australia is constantly growing, with employment of secondary school teachers alone expected to grow by 15.5% between 2019 and 2024. Have you considered studying a Master of Teaching to become a secondary school teacher?