Establishing his grounding at Diamond Valley in the domestic ranks with the Apollo Rockets and through rep with the Eagles, Steve ‘Stevie V’ Viterbo was always visible on the courts as being a hard-nosed competitor who was versatile in his skill set - but always had a finger on the pulse of his teammates’ morale and self belief, and often would be the most encouraging teammate on the floor.

Steve’s journey since his days at Civic Drive has been quite the story of ups and downs, but most of all is one of resilience and the embodiment of ‘things turn out best for those that make the best of the way things turn out’.

In 2009, Steve’s time at Diamond Valley came to a close on a high with a Big V Youth League Men’s championship – a result that Steve was a key component of, playing for former long-time Diamond Valley coach Trevor Lee.

‘Big Trev was great to play for at Diamond Valley, he was always willing the best effort out of us and challenging us to push through adversity – our team did really well that year, it was a fun year’, Steve recalls with a smile.

Steve wanted to extend himself and play SEABL, which saw him move to the Knox Raiders to join their SEABL Men’s program – playing alongside likely top 2 NBA draft pick this year, Ben Simmons.

‘I didn’t get to play as much as he did, there might’ve only been a handful of games we played where we were on the court at the same time – but it’s good to look back on especially with how well he’s done for himself, being the number 1 draft pick and all.’

After a season at Knox with sparing opportunity but lots of learning about life as a senior athlete, Steve was made aware by coach Scott Christiansen that there was a college program, at Young Harris University in Atlanta, that was rebooting and re-launching into Division 2 NCAA play. One thing lead to another, and Steve was very quickly on a plane to the U.S to be a member of the Young Harris Mountain Lions.

‘It was something that I wanted to do and Scotty caught wind of it and helped me make it happen through people he knew over there. It was an exciting challenge and something that took me out of my comfort zone, which is always a good thing if you want to get better.’

As a freshman in a re-launched program, the Basketball program was still finding it’s way – there was no conference affiliation which meant no regular conference games and certainly no schedule, the Mountain Lions would play any team that was willing to have a game ! Their task was made even more difficult midway through the year when they lost half the team to bad grades, infractions or substance issues. That meant they were left with 5 players on the team and had to suit up walk-ons who, at that stage, had no business playing at that level ! Though the team went 5-20, the highlight of season 1 was an upset win over North Georgia in a nailbiter in front of 2000+ fans – the first time they’d lost a home game since the 1950s !

‘That first year ... man … (laughs) … it was really interesting ! It was a newly re-launched program, so establishing things that would become the norm was a challenge – at times things felt a bit up in the air or disorganized, but it was to be expected. We were all a part of making this a good program, so we had to take our lumps and be prepared for anything till the program found it’s way and grew. Never get too caught up in anything other than doing our best with where we were and what we were doing.’

In his second year in Atlanta, Steve had a solid year of production statistically and with an influx of Junior College athletes into the program to top up what they lost the year prior, he became a glue guy and enforcer of the Mountain Lions lineup – much like Draymond Green is for the Golden State Warriors. The team still didn’t have a home conference or a regular schedule, but managed to play 26 games and finish with a record of 21-5.

‘I was a bit of a tough guy when I needed to be ! I didn’t pick fights or do anything dirty, but when I had to stand up and be counted for my team and my teammates then I would become the enforcer. I might’ve talked a bit of trash to some guys on other teams during the year – but it’s all in fun and competition !’

Finally, by Steve’s junior year, Young Harris had a conference to belong to. They were members of the Peach Belt Conference. And they had a full schedule of games.

Then adversity hit. Steve suffered a shoulder injury that plagued his season and got to the point where it was so limiting that he had to sit out games. The team, with and without his services, beat some top 10 ranked teams in the country – continuing to put bricks in the wall of the program as it attempted to gather momentum and become a stable, competitive outfit on and off the floor. By the last game of the conference schedule that year, Young Harris was in 1^st place – but due to their infancy since being re-launched in the NCAA, they were ineligible to play in the National Tournament to decide the best college in the country that season.

‘It killed me to not be out there on the floor and playing – I love to play ! We had some really good wins in my junior year and I did whatever I had to do to help my team win. It was difficult finishing in 1^st place and then not getting the chance to test our skills and ability against the other best teams in the country because of ineligibility’.

Steve turned his attention to rehab and spent the better part of 6 months trying to recoup the lost strength and mobility he had through injury. For his Senior, and last ever, college season Steve was named Captain – an honor bestowed upon the best role model and leader in any team, but this was a significant achievement given he was from a country miles and miles away, a foreigner perhaps, but is testament to Steve’s impact on his teammates and standing within Young Harris as a school and program.

‘I think it comes from being an Australian – we’re all about mateship, we’re always about everyone pulling in the same direction as one, and everything we do is with and for the team first.’.

‘Most of my teammates came from Juco (Junior College) backgrounds where it’s a lot of isolation basketball, lots of 1 on 1 etc – I wanted to set a culture by complimenting guys when they did the one-percenters and have them buy in to doing things selflessly for the team.’

The week before game one of his Senior season he hurt his shoulder once again.

Absolutely gutted, Steve tried to push through the pain, tape his shoulder tight and play on - getting to participate in about half of the season’s schedule of games.

‘As Captain of the team, I thought it was important to show some toughness where I could – to help set the standard and build our collective toughness. They knew I was in pain, but them seeing me continue to work at getting back or working through the injury kept the guys together on the same page.’

In the second last game of the season, and in effect, his U.S college career - Steve re-injured his shoulder and was done for the rest of the game, season and as mentioned, his time playing college Basketball.

‘It was frustrating, definitely frustrating – but in a lot of ways more of my disappointment was not getting to play the last game of the season, which is Senior Night where they celebrate your career at the college. I announced my retirement on the night instead – I had lost my drive because I’d spent so much time just trying to get better physically, not get better at my game. It took up all of my focus, just rehabbing all the time. I was proud of what I accomplished as a player there and was ready to take the next step.’

The next step was to enter the coaching ranks. Steve had built a relationship with Georgia Tech’s Men’s Basketball program having worked camps as an on-court coach for them and trained players for them. He was hoping to become a Graduate Assistant – but a sticking point was that Georgia Tech didn’t allow subjects to be online, which would afford Steve flexibility to work and earn money, and only offered regular sit-in classes.

Steve turned his focus to Marketing and Sales companies and did some work in that space for 12 months until his Visa ran out. Though the pay rate was good – this lifestyle wasn’t scratching the itch of coaching.

They say ‘when the student is ready, the teacher will appear’, and out of the blue a call came through from Young Harris Head Coach Pete Hermann. He informed Steve that one of his Assistant Coaches was leaving and an opportunity presented for him to join his alma mater’s staff. Young Harris even offered to pay for the renewal of Steve’s Visa – so he signed on.

‘I completed my first year on staff and I learnt so much about coaching, administration and team managing. I had to do it all, and it’s so time consuming ! During the season, I’d be at the office by 8:30am and I’d work through pretty much till midnight. 7 days a week. Yes, 7 days a week. The Men’s Basketball program is Young Harris’s baby – it’s the thing that appeals most to the community and appeals most commercially. Everyone in the town comes out to watch us play. It’s a great connection.’

Steve discussed that his aspiration was to one day have the opportunity to Head Coach the team at Young Harris and that his thoughts on the game have been influenced heavily by his time at Diamond Valley, ‘I always had good coaches to learn from at Diamond Valley and their values have shaped the way I think about the game. From U12s through to U18s my coaches always had a development focus, had a high attention to detail and always put the team first – they never made it about the individual.’

‘I try to mimic the environment that my DV coaches created for me and the teams I played in - guys like Ross Clark, Kirk Briggs, Dennis Wright, Heath Hay, Phil Ashworth etc.’

Nowadays, with his playing career over, Steve will lace up the boots from time to time to play in open gym sessions at L.A Fitness in Atlanta – a situation where you bring your shoes but aren’t guaranteed a game. If you get the chance to join a team, it’s 1^st team to 15 baskets with the winning team staying on and the losing team having to leave the court and go to the back of the line, where you may not see the court again for up to an hour.

That said, the responsibility of being an Assistant Coach is scratching most of the competitive itch, with Steve signing on for a second season on the bench with the Mountain Lions – who lost the Conference final to Augusta State last season, after beating them in Conference play.

‘I enjoyed my first year and the team came so close to winning the Championship that I’d like to continue being part of the push for that. We had no seniors graduate, so we’ve kept the core of the team together and added even more talent – which is a rare thing to keep all the team and even add pieces to make it better.’

‘I’ll continue to bring the DV underdog mentality to the group – where we’re all about hard work and having a grittiness about how we play. I think, with emphasis on it, we’ve transitioned into that mindset and it’s influenced how our team competes – it doesn’t matter so much about our level of talent, it’s all about how we can stay hungry and on task even when things aren’t going our way.’

‘This coming year I know we have the opportunity to do really well, and it’s our chance to go one better than last year – I’m looking forward to it.’