Jonathon Shepherd

Jonathon began working for All Aussie Travel (AAT) in 2006 whilst he pursued his professional basketball career in Australia. Jonathon has been actively playing the sport for the past 14 years and most recently completed the 2008 season playing with the Auckland Stars in the New Zealand National League and currently plays with the Dandenong Rangers in Victoria, Australia.

After moving through the ranks of country New South Wales basketball as a junior, Jonathon moved to Sydney in 1999 to further develop his game with some of the best coaches Australia had to offer. This is where Jonathon first met Craig Douglass and before long Craig was putting Jonathon through gruelling individual court sessions as a 17 and 18 year old. In 2001 Jonathon's hard work paid off gaining a full scholarship where he began a 4 year NCAA basketball career. During this time Jonathon won a conference championship, captained his team for 2 seasons, and still holds school records in free throw percentage and steals (94.5% season percentage and 7 steals in a single game). He also proudly represented Australia at the 2003 World University Games in South Korea.

In 2006 Jonathon relocated back to the shores of Australia and played for the Townsville Crocodiles in the Australian National Basketball League. During this time Jonathon completed his college education online and graduated with a Bachelor of Business Administration with a minor in Sports Management from Nova Southeastern University in Florida.

Jonathon says, "The hard work I put in on & off the court really paid off for me! My experience playing college basketball in the States was unbelievable and I recommend players of all levels to go the extra mile and work towards gaining this valuable life experience; you'll remember it for the rest of your life!"