Winning, helping next generation drives Wortho's return

By Chris Pike for NBL1.com.au

Mark Worthington has always been one of Australian basketball's great competitors and that drive to win hasn’t diminished as he wants to help the Willetton Tigers win in this NBL1 West season, but his return is all about helping the next generation just as much.

Worthington retired at the end of the 2016/17 NBL season and he did so as an all-time great of Australian basketball. 

Not only did Worthington play 333 games in the NBL between the Sydney Kings, South Dragons, Gold Coast Blaze, Melbourne Tigers/United and ultimately the Cairns Taipans, winning a championship in 2009 at the Dragons, and was a four-time All-First Team member, but his reach extended well beyond that.

Growing up in Bunbury, Worthington played at the South West Slammers and won an SBL championship in 1999 before his college career at Metro State University in Denver, which led to his professional career beginning at the Sydney Kings.

He also played in Germany, Puerto Rico and Serbia, and playing for Australia, he become a regular standout with the Boomers including going to the Olympics in 2008 and 2012, and playing at world championships in 2006 and 2010.

So by the time Worthington's NBL career finished, he had nothing left to prove or accomplish, and really nothing left in the tank. 

His body enjoyed the break and he did begin life as a coach firstly staying in Cairns coaching the Dolphins team in the then QBL before becoming an assistant at Loyola Marymount University in California. 

He would soon return home to Bunbury and coached the Slammers for the 2020 and 2021 seasons, but the travel was too much from the northern suburbs of Perth and he took a backseat in 2022.

Itch to return became impossible to ignore

However, what surprised Worthington as his 40th birthday approached which he'll celebrate later in 2023, he had things on his bucket list to tick off and increasingly, one of those was to return to the basketball court.

"I think it started last year and as you get a little bit older you sort of want to tick a few things off your bucket list," Worthington said. 

"I made a comeback playing a game of football last year up at Paraburdoo and I got to jump on a bike and ride over 200kms for cancer, which was after I hadn’t really ridden a bike over the last 20 years. 

"Now that I'm turning 40 later on this year, I just had a little itch that I needed to scratch and I wanted to get back into basketball. So making my return to NBL1 seemed like a logical thing to do and now my body's paying the price for it, and I can't wait."

All started, ironically, thanks to Shawn Redhage

Ultimately, it was just a chance catch up with former Kings teammate and current Willetton president Cam Tovey that got the ball rolling for Worthington to join the Kings.

He ended up chatting with coach Adam Nener and with another old Perth Wildcats foe Brad Robbins there at Willetton too, and a strong group of emerging talent, Worthington didn’t need much more convincing that it was the place he wanted to make his return.

"The first conversation was with Cam Tovey, who was my teammate at the Sydney Kings and someone I used to live with," he said. 

"It was the night of Shawn Redhage's jersey retirement and Cam and I were standing next to each other. He said I looked like I could still play and I said I wasn’t sure about that. 

"Conversations continued from there and then I had a conversation with Adam Nener and he's the same age as me, and then Robbo is a bit younger. 

"With me being a coaching previously, I wanted Adam to know this wasn’t me trying to coach Willetton, it was just me wanting to get back out on the court. 

"I looked at Willetton's roster and with the young guys, I thought I could help contribute to with an older head around the group. I can just actually help them while I'm out on the court which was intriguing to me."

Just wants to be part of a team environment again

More than anything, for Worthington it was that desire to be part of a team again, and to be able to provide some leadership and that experienced voice for a young group that most excited him.

"Seriously I just wanted to get back with the younger guys, be part of a team environment again and as much as businesses and work places try to encourage team environments, there's nothing quite like an actual sports team," Worthington said. 

"You go through the same training, the pain, the sweat and go through the defeats and victories together. There's no feeling like it and Willetton has got a really good young bunch of kids running around. 

"When they came with me to have that sort of senior leadership voice to help out the young guys, it all just aligned pretty well for me."

Body is feeling surprisingly good

Worthington hasn’t played at a top level since his NBL retirement when the Taipans lost in the semi finals to the Wildcats back in 2017, but six years later and he's pleasantly surprised with the way his body is feeling.

"I'm feeling surprisingly good, much better than what I anticipated at this stage, which has been nice," he said. 

"Obviously when I speak about the head space, mentally I had to get into a position where I'm not the Mark Worthington that used to play NBL. 

"I'm a guy who is about to turn 40 and has been out of the game for a considerable amount of time, and physically I might not be able to do what I used to be able to do. 

"I've been surprised by how well the body has held up at this stage, though, and hope it continues to for the rest of the season."

Why he's so excited about Willetton's potential

Worthington's far from the only piece that has Willetton looking to potentially be the big improvers this NBL1 West season too. 

The Tigers had a tough season in 2022 with just a 7-15 record, but all of a sudden with the arrival of Gorjok Gak off the back of an encouraging season at the Brisbane Bullets, import Darnell Hoskins Jr and Hunter Clark back from an NBL season in Brisbane, and they are good signs.

Add in the retention veterans Michael Vigor (260 games), Andrew Black (243) and Damien Scott (304), and then emerging talent Tom Gerovich, Dylan Hampson, Josh Ibukunoluwa and Travis Fee, and it's easy to see what Worthington is excited about.

"I know they're coming off a very disappointing season last year but when you have someone like Gorjok coming in, I think that turns around an organisation straightaway," Worthington said.

"We're fortunate to have him and the reason I wanted to come back is because I do want to win. At the end of the day, that's the main goal and while I might not be the person that I used to be, I still think there's some value to be had there with this squad. 

"So far it's just been really cool speaking to all the young guys and watching them even just learn small things in a small period of time. 

"For that I'm excited to see where we are at the end of the season and hopefully we're at the pointy end playing off for a championship which is what everyone should be aspiring to at this stage."