Jayden Stone has always taken risks.
Perhaps none as big as his decision to travel across the world to pursue his dreams on the hardwood. It’s something that seemed unattainable at the time, but his mind was made up.
When Stone was just 14 years old he made the decision to leave his home in Perth, Australia to come to the United States. But that choice also meant leaving behind the only world that he had ever known and settling with distant family from his father’s side in Alabama that he had never previously met.
Stone told his mother and sister only two days before the trip that he was taking the leap and while she was upset that he was making the decision, understood the goal of the trip.
“I came over because I wanted to chase a dream. I wanted to chase something. That’s the primal thing about human existence we want to go after something and when you’re determined you don’t look back,” He said.
Coming over to the States involved a 27-hour flight that started from Perth to Sydney, then to Los Angeles before connecting in Denver. From there, he would fly to Charlotte before eventually landing in Alabama. That’s a hard decision for anybody, but especially somebody at that impressionable age.
“Who knows how to move at 14-15 years old by yourself on the other side of the planet and adjust to adult living?” he said.
Once he settled in the States, Stone had to take control of his independence and was responsible for organizing his camp schedule, saving money and organizing his housing in different spots as his pursuit of the game continued. On top of that, he also had to learn how to self-regulate his emotions because of spending so much time by himself with his family back in Australia.
“It was difficult because you don’t feel at home anywhere,” he said.
It created a difficult balance for him but one that he is appreciative for in the sense that it has put him in the position to play major college basketball. Still, that feeling of being alone and spending multiple holidays or birthdays by himself with his family multiple time zones away in Australia was a difficult balancing act.
“I think coming to America has left some potholes in my life but also brought some of the most amazing stories that I can share with my children. It's still rough when I think about it but I’m thankful,” he said.
That journey on the hardwood has taken him to several places starting with Alabama and then Kansas for his senior year of high school at Sunrise Christian Academy. From there, Stone would spend two seasons at Grand Canyon and then transferred to Detroit Mercy. He had a different role at each program going from a high mark of 14 points at Grand Canyon to averaging 20.8 points per game last season with the Titans.
But despite his personal success, Detroit Mercy finished just 1-31 on the season a year ago which was difficult to take for a lot of different reasons.
Being the primary scoring option on the roster, Stone felt the pressure of that weight on his shoulders while also learning some things about himself.
“I think you learn from what you want to learn from. Just like anything you take situations and it’s your response to anything. So, your response to anything is how you do everything,” he said.
Stone found out some things about his leadership and how to better handle that side of things. It also served as a catalyst for why he made the move to West Virginia in the first place in a different role. He had completed everything he wanted to at Detroit so now he wanted to try his hand at the highest level.
“Before, you want to chase the stats as every player does deep down every play is transfixed on his stat line, but I just wanted to be a part of winning for a change and maybe give up of myself for a collective goal of trying to chase something special,” he said.
The challenge of playing against players at this level is challenging but the focus here in his final season is how can he take the steps to become a winner at this level.
He has expectedly adjusted well with his new teammates in his new surroundings and believes that this is the closest team that he has been a part of since he arrived in the States.
It’s just another step in the journey of Stone who has traveled a long way to be in Morgantown chasing a dream but with a piece of his heart still very much back home.
“I only went home five years after I came here so that was the hardest thing,” he said.
----------
• Talk about it with West Virginia fans on The Blue Lot.
• SUBSCRIBE today to stay up on the latest on Mountaineer sports and recruiting.
• Get all of our WVU videos on YouTube by subscribing to the WVSports.com Channel
• Follow us on Twitter: @WVSportsDotCom, @rivalskeenan, @wesleyshoe
