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Having won championships all over the world including at Lakeside Lightning, Sam Roscoe got everything and more out of playing basketball that she dreamed of with this NBL1 West season seeing her retire and now be moving to England to begin a 'normal' life.
Roscoe might be still just 28 years of age, but she has crammed an enormous amount into her basketball and when you consider she made her SBL debut at the Warwick Senators when aged just 15, she has been playing at a high level for a long time.
That included being one of Western Australia's best juniors before she went off to college for a strong career at North Dakota, and then upon graduating it's been a professional career she could only have dreamed of in the NBL1 West but also in England, Germany and Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Having also been continuing her studies after graduating from the University of North Dakota and doing her master's in business management at Manchester, she knew that the time would eventually come where the basketball dream would end, and the next phase of her life would begin.
That meant that ironically Roscoe finished her career playing at the Mandurah Magic which was the team she had such a history of playing against including winning the championship in 2018 at Lakeside on the back of scoring the last 21 points of that Grand Final.
However, what Roscoe wanted more than anything was to finish her career playing for the coach that gave her a start back at the Senators so to do so under Vlad Alava meant it was close to the best send off she could have hoped for.
Championship rings are something Roscoe isn’t short of, having not only won that SBL championship at Lakeside, but she also won titles in Bosnia and Herzegovina and in Germany, so basketball gave her everything she could have dreamed of.
Beyond the success she was part of, all the people Roscoe is closest to in life aside from her family have come through basketball including partner Raphell Thomas-Edwards, and while she is emotional to be retiring and moving for good to Bristol, she's tremendously grateful too.
Reflecting on professional career
Now that Roscoe has decided to end her playing career, she has the chance to reflect. To be able to combine playing in England or Europe with then coming back home to play, and play basketball 12 months a year for the last seven years is more than she could have dreamed of.
That was on the back of four years at college and along the way she was not only able to study at the University of North Dakota, but then complete her master's at Manchester Metropolitan University.
Add in the people she's met along her basketball journey and she got everything and more she could have hoped for from basketball.
"Growing up I never thought I would play professionally and then once I kind of got into it, it literally gave me everything," Roscoe said.
"It's where I met all my closest friends who I now call family, it's how I met my partner and now we are off to start our lives together, and every experience or memory I have always revolves around basketball or the basketball community.
"It's given me way more than I could have ever expected. I remember as a young kid the first time I touched a basketball I was jumping up and down, and was travelling and going up and down the wrong side of the court.
"Then for it to get to a point where basketball became an identity and who I am now is amazing. Even though I'm now retiring, I'll always think of myself as an athlete because it has shaped my life more than I ever could have imagined."
Decision to retire
When Roscoe returned home to Perth in 2024 after her season in the British Basketball League at the Caledonia Gladiators, she always knew it would be her farewell to the game at this level as she joined the Mandurah Magic.
Finishing her career under coach Vlad Alava who was in charge at the Senators when she started in the league as a teenager was one of her goals too, but ultimately knowing she had to take the next step in life away from basketball was behind the decision.
"Reflecting on my career, I had so many success stories and so many achievements, and kind of did everything that I set out to do in my professional career," she said.
"It got to the point where me and my partner wanted to start having a bit more stability, and you get to an age where your priorities shift a little bit.
"With that shift, I felt like I had done everything I set out to do playing basketball and the priorities kind of shifted to do a different part of life for us moving forward."
Feeling having now played last game
With the Magic not quite able to book in a finals spot in 2024, the last game in the career of Roscoe was on the last Friday night of the regular season when they hosted the Willetton Tigers in Mandurah.
Even though the result didn’t go the way of the Magic, Roscoe couldn’t ask for more in terms of the way she got to say goodbye to her career her way with a late substitution thanks to coach Alava who she was wanted to be her coach for her last game.
"It was a tough one. Originally I went to Mandurah because I had started my career playing for Vlad Alava and our fairytale ending was to end my career with him as my coach," Roscoe said.
"So when he subbed me out for that last time and we knew that was it, I gave him a big hug and it was probably one of the most emotional times of my life. I've played basketball since I was five, at this sort of level from 15 and there was a lot of emotions subbing out for that last time.
"There was a lot of pride too and being at a club so established like Mandurah who have been successful most years in terms of being a contender, so I had such respect for that club.
"For them to allow me to retire with Vlad as my coach and being in a situation where I could retire in a way I was content with was amazing. There was still a lot of emotions and I couldn’t stop crying once the buzzer went, it was tough."
Finishing playing with long-time rivals
For a lot of Roscoe's career and it was the Mandurah Magic who were one of her great rivals especially going back to a hotly contested three-game semi-final battle at Lakeside in 2017 and then the Grand Final between the Lightning and Magic in 2018.
Roscoe and her Lakeside were down all evening in that Grand Final before the scoring the last 21 points of the game to turn a 10-point deficit into the 11-point win to claim the championship and to keep Mandurah championship-less in the league.
Because of that and especially the years of inside battles inside with Emma Klasztorny and Bree Klasztorny, and Roscoe was a little nervous about how she would be embraced by her new Magic teammates.
However, once she turned up and was able to call everyone from Casey Mihovilovich to Rachel Halleen and even in the end Christina Boag teammates, and she had no reason for concern.
In the end, she couldn’t have asked for a better environment to finish her career in.
"I think my first thought about signing at Mandurah was hoping they would embrace me. We had a lot of history there but that Grand Final, we finished with a 21-0 run with four minutes to go that we went on and that's probably my biggest core memory from basketball," Roscoe said.
"I've never been in another situation like that but then knowing I was going to join quite a few of those players this year as teammates, I was just hoping they would embrace me.
"That wasn’t a concern from the moment I got there and everyone was so welcoming and nice to me, and it didn’t feel like there was any animosity towards me at all which was a big relief.
"Then as the season went on, a lot of those girls were a great support and pushed me to be better, and helped me to be better. Then before that last game, Casey said some really nice things and let me have that moment which I thought was really special when she didn’t need to do that."
Championship success
Roscoe has no idea what she thought her basketball career might look like before it started, but what she does know is that from the moment she was playing in WA state teams as a teenager to making her SBL debut at 2015 and then going to college, it's surpassed all expectations.
That included winning that SBL championship with Lakeside in 2018, experiencing success also in Bosnia with Sarajevo and Germany with Hannover. It's the whole experience of what basketball has given her that has stood out.
She also got to cash in her English family background to play in the BBL at the Manchester Mystics and Caledonia Gladiators.
If she had to pick out one memory, unfortunately for her Mandurah teammates of 2024, it would be that Lakeside triumph of 2018.
"I've actually won in every country I've played in professionally except in England ironically enough. That one with Lakeside will always be so special in my heart, though, just because of that team, that club and having Craig Mansfield as the coach," Roscoe said.
"It was a fairytale season that well where we fit so well together and we were almost undefeated, we lost just that one game to Redbacks. In that moment too in that Grand Final, we were down the whole game but from start to end I think we all still had the belief we would win.
"Then during that 21-0 run at the end, someone was shooting free throws and I just looked up to see the crowd going insane, and I could feel the goosebumps.
"That's when I knew it was a moment I would never forget and as soon as that buzzer went off, Sydnee Fipps jumped on me and so did Ash Grant, and I will never forget it. It honestly is one of the best memories of my life, I still have goosebumps talking about it."
Coaches having big influence
Now that Roscoe can reflect on her career, there are three coaches that stand out above the rest who she will forever be thankful for – the one who was there at the start and finish, Vlad Alava, Lakeside championship winner Craig Mansfield and her coach in Germany, Sidney Parsons.
"When I think of my career, I can't do it without giving the biggest of shoutouts to Craig Mansfield and Vlad Alava," Roscoe said.
"Those two shaped my careers and shaped me as a person so much. They were so much more than coaches to me, they were mentors, family and everything to me, and I can't thank them enough for everything they did for me.
"Then there was also Sidney Parsons who was my German coach for two years and also a huge influence in my career and the greatest coach I had in Europe."
What comes next
Then comes the decision to retire and Roscoe knew that at some point she'd have to turn her attention to the rest of her life in terms of what sort of career pathway she wanted to take.
She had completed her master's studies in business management so the chance to combine that with sport was an opportunity too good to pass up when the chance to head up proceedings at Bristol Sport came about.
"I've actually accepted a role with Bristol Sport, which is the overhead body of all the major sporting teams in Bristol," Roscoe said.
"So I'll be a regular 9-5 girl now and I'm ready to embrace that, it will be good. I'm moving with Raph and he will still be playing basketball there while I'm working the day to day job.
"The second year that I was in Manchester is when I met Raph and then in my last year in Manchester that's when we started dating.
"I then went off to Germany so we did the distance thing, but then for my next year in Germany he actually was prepared to quit playing basketball to come be an assistant coach at the team I was playing for.
"Then even when he ended up playing NBL1 down here, originally he was just coming to be with me when I came home. Then someone at Bunbury saw him sitting in the stands during our game, they asked him if he'd be interested in playing and then it all just went from there."
Living without playing basketball
Given how big a part basketball has been in her life the last 15 years, Roscoe has no doubt she is going to miss the game, but she won't completely be lost to basketball including her partner Raphell Thomas-Edwards continuing to play at Bristol.
"I think I'm definitely going to miss it. It's been my identity and a huge part of my life since I can remember but I think I'm always going to be around basketball still," she said.
"That's either just watching games, playing pick up and my job will still involve being part of the Bristol basketball program. It's not a part of me that I can just let go so even though I won't be still on the court, I'll still remain involved in basketball as much as I can in any capacity."
Another bonus Roscoe sees from no longer playing around the world is that she will finally get to experience a summer.
That's still somewhat debatable considering a summer in Bristol might more closely resemble a Perth winter, but still since she left North Dakota, she's been playing basketball in winter seasons so it is something she's excited for.
"Another thing I'm looking forward to is actually getting to experience a summer, even if it's just an English one," Roscoe said.
"But it will be the first summer I've fully got to experience since 2016 because wherever I've been playing the seasons have always been happening in the winter, and I've virtually been going all year round.
"I've gone winter to winter for seven or eight years now but I also love the English culture, and I'm the first generation born in Australia so it's in my blood and I still have a lot of extended family there. I'm going to embrace it as much as I can."
