Roth ignites passion in students
• Jack Jumpers coach Scott Roth with Scottsdale High school students Tara Lette, Beau Gerke, Jorja Haberle and Alfie Wadley.
March 8, 2023
By Daisy Baker
Local students enjoyed a visit from esteemed Jack Jumpers coach and former NBA player Scott Roth on Tuesday morning, sharing words of wisdom from his successful career.
He began the morning giving an inspirational talk to students at Scottsdale High School before visiting some of his younger fans at Scottsdale Primary.
Raised in Cleveland, Ohio, Mr Roth was the number one player in Ohio by the time he was 16 and was also in the top ten players in the United States.
He shared with grade seven to ten students how he found his passion and made his way to the court playing for Utah Jazz, guarding the likes of Magic Johnson and Michael Jordan.
Mr Roth dedicated every summer holidays to playing basketball until he turned 16, when his dad told him he needed to find a job.
The first Monday of the holidays he was to report to the fire station at 8am, where his dad was a volunteer firefighter.
He arrived to find a big fire truck, a tin of paint and a thick notebook filled with addresses.
For three months he was instructed to paint 90 fire hydrants a day, making his way around the whole city.
“At the end of that three months, I thought ‘this is not what I want to do for a living, this is not what I want to be’. That was the last time that I’ve ever worked in my entire life because I fell in love with basketball. An orange ball that took me around the world and has given me everything I have today – a wife, a daughter, houses, cars, money, travel,” he said.
“When I was 16, I figured out, my passion was going to be hoops. I was going to do something in sports with this ball because I loved it.
“From that point on, I’ve never collected a cheque from anything that has nothing to do with basketball.”
Mr Roth encouraged all of the students to get serious about finding their passion and use their years at school to develop their skills in the chosen area, be it sport, art, architecture, medicine.
He took questions for students, ranging from career highlights to perks of coaching and advice to aspiring professional athletes.
Mr Roth said his last two years in Tasmania as the coach of the Jack Jumpers has been an unbelievable journey, putting together the team, building a franchise, playing the grand finals last year and almost making it to the grand final again this year.
“It’s been quite the whirlwind for me personally, what I’ve gone through to put this team together but also the welcome I’ve got from the Tasmanian folk from all over,” he said.
“It’s been quite humbling to know that in a short two years, we’ve captured the hearts of Tasmanians by our work ethic, our culture that we’ve developed and a community rallying around one sports team.”
Mr Roth concluded his talk to the high school students, advising this year’s leadership team to embrace vulnerability and practise empathy for people from all walks of life.