Spr Carl Teske – putting the Army first. Photo by Bill Cunneen

Sharp sapper

By Cpl Alisha Carr
TRAINING with one of the National Basketball League’s (NBL) top teams comes second to a career in the ADF according to the School of Military Engineering’s Spr Carl Teske.

Spr Teske, a 196cm, 96kg apprentice plumber, was recently selected to train with the Western Sydney Razorbacks and is now on their 15-man roster.

Although it is a thrill training with the side, Spr Teske said it was impossible to balance an Army career with professional basketball and that his future in the ADF came before anything else.

“My goal is to keep playing basketball for Defence – if I ever get out of the Army I may try for the NBL but my future in the ADF comes first,” he said.

“I learned to play from my old man who played for the Brisbane Bullets and started when I was about 10 or 11.

“I also went to the USA on a student exchange program before I joined the Army and there I played college basketball for a while.

“Over there they take it very seriously, training for three to four hours a day – everyone knows the sportspeople, not the academics.”

He said when he got back to Australia he joined the Army because it was a good way to get a trade.

“My dad’s an electrician and some other family members are carpenters, so I thought I’d be different and choose plumbing.

“The first Army team I played for was the NSW Army team in an inter-service comp. I was then selected for the NSW combined-service team. We won that competition, beating Queensland who hadn’t lost in about six years.

“I played pretty well in that game and won the most valuable player award. It was definitely a team effort though – we enjoyed the victory and enjoyed the celebrations afterwards.”

When Spr Teske was an apprentice at ALTC, he played civilian basketball for a side that won the national title, beating Cairns.

“The next big competition is the Arafura Games in Darwin to be held in May. We’ll play a number of South Pacific and Asian countries.

“The actual competition is a week and a half long but we’ll spend a week training beforehand. Our team is a pretty close bunch – we’re all mates.”

But as with all sports, there is mateship and there is pride. There is the dream of representing your country and the dissapointment if this dream isn’t realised.

“Representing Australia is the best feeling you can get.”

For now, Spr Teske is concentrating on his career in the Army, but look out for him in the future – with his height, talent and well-grounded attitude, this man is sure to set his sights high, achieve his goals and make the Army and his corps proud.