Lara footballer Bailey Ettridge secures four-year scholarship with the University of Nevada

As Joe McGuire and James Rendell prepare for US college football’s championship game, a Geelong local footballer is set for his own punting opportunity with the University of Nevada. Here is his story.

Lara footballer Bailey Ettridge . Picture: Alan Barber

A Lara footballer has a workmate to thank for his burgeoning punting career after securing a four-year scholarship at the University of Nevada just days after Christmas.

Former Geelong Falcon and Lara Cat Bailey Ettridge, 26, had parked the idea of transforming himself into a gridiron kicker five years ago after first seeing an opportunity through ProKick on Facebook.

Established in 2007, ProKick specialises in transitioning Australian athletes into the collegiate and professional ranks of American football.

And Ettridge’s big opportunity comes as Joe McGuire, son of AFL icon Eddie, and James Rendell, son of the former AFL player Matthew, will be on opposing sides of Ohio State and Notre Dame respectively for the NCAA college football national championship game on Tuesday.

So after making a few inquiries, but stuck in the middle of a welding apprenticeship, Ettridge’s attentions drifted elsewhere and had almost forgot about the punting dream before fate stepped in.

Through his work at the Hamilton Group in North Geelong, Ettridge got to know a painter called Scott Crough from Ballarat.

It turned out Crough was talented punter who was signed professionally in Canada, but those dreams were ultimately ruined by injury.

Crough recommended he contact ProKick’s Tom Hornsey, a star forward for Modewarre who won the prestigious Ray Guy Award for college football over a decade ago.

Lara footballer Bailey Ettridge has secured a four-year scholarship at the University of Nevada. Picture: Alan Barber

“It all just fell into place I guess, the right place at the right time,” Ettridge said.

“We’ve got a lot of different trades in the company, he was a painter that rocked up.”

However, it was far from a linear process to go from the Lara Cats to the Nevada Wolf Pack.

Ettridge has booted 38 goals for Lara from 18 games in 2023 in his most productive season in the GFNL.

And while Ettridge’s partner was a tad reluctant about a move overseas, and the idea was parked again, the 26-year-old finally bit the bullet and fronted up for a ProKick trial in the middle of last year.

Ettridge shoots for goal against Grovedale. Picture: Mark Wilson

Hornsey would advise Ettridge he had the leg power for the job; it was just a matter of application.

“I’ve never looked back,” Ettridge said.

However, it made for an incredibly busy six-month period to close out 2024: juggling an online short course Bachelor of Business degree, plus punting training and full time work.

Unfortunately, something had to give with that kind of busy lifestyle so Ettridge played the last of his five games of the 2024 season with the Cats in May.

Ettridge also basically had to unlearn everything he had learned from years of kicking an Aussie Rules footy.

“You have to change your technique a fair bit,” he said.

Bailey Ettridge with ProKick coach Tom Hornsey. Picture: Alan Barber

“All these things you’ve learnt from about six, you’ve got to wipe from your memory and get out of your muscle memory.”

He said punting was all about speed as much as anything.

“Catching the ball, getting it off super quick, you’ve got to get it off in under 1.3 seconds, it’s all about being fast and efficient with your technique,” he said.

“My leg swing, I always swipe across my body, naturally, which doesn’t really work well for the punting I’ve found out.

“I’ve had to try and reconfigure my leg swing to be as straight as possible, that’s been a bit of a learning curve.”

However, the grind began to reap the benefits later in the year.

While a few schools initially showed interest, Ettridge wasn’t sold on the idea and held out for another opportunity.

Ettridge is due to fly out to the US on Tuesday. Picture: Alan Barber

Then Nevada came to the party, before withdrawing and then ultimately coming back.

Just days after Christmas, Hornsey rang Ettridge to inform him there was an offer on the table.

“It’s been a pretty quick turnaround, usually it’s about a 12 to 18 month program,” Ettridge said.

He and Nathan Sutcliffe (Colorado State) will make for 16 local punters in the US produced through ProKick.

Other recent success stories have been Bannockburn’s James Ferguson-Reynolds at Boise State University and former Bell Park and Geelong Amateur defender Wade McSparron at the University of Central Florida.

A bona fide outdoorsy type, Ettridge appears to have landed on his feet in his new home of Reno.

Far from being one of the country’s biggest cities, there’s plenty of space for skiing, snowboarding and hiking, while Lake Tahoe is less than an hour away.

And the cold is bearable.

“It’s sunny most of the year,” he said.

“It’ll be five degrees and it’s still sunny.”

It’s given Ettridge a second chance at another dream: majoring in physical education in Reno.

Once having visions of becoming a PE teacher, Ettridge dropped out of Lara Secondary College after Year 10 and would seek a trade instead.

Originally published as Lara footballer Bailey Ettridge secures four-year scholarship with the University of Nevada