IT’S a long way from the Shoalhaven to meeting the US first lady, but that’s the amazing journey former Shoalhaven resident Andrew Cleary has made.
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Cleary, who is the son of Zita and the late Dr Ray Cleary, is the Washington Wizards NBA strength and conditioning coach, and visited the White House to take part in Michelle Obama’s initiative to overcome childhood obesity.
“Meeting Michelle Obama was pretty cool,” he admitted.
“She has an initiative to overcome childhood obesity and invited the strength and conditioning coaches from the major league sports in the local area to work out some local kids on the White House lawn.
“We got to meet first lady and watched the president leave on his helicopter Marine One from the south lawn of the White House.
“I have been very fortunate to have had a great life.
“It’s pretty amazing to come from a small rural town in Australia to the pinnacle of basketball.
“I am very grateful for the people I have worked with and the places basketball has taken me - I would do nothing different.”
And he has worked with some of the big names in basketball – the Jordans, Pippens etc.
“I have worked with the Portland Trailblazers, Orlando Magic and now the Washington Wizards twice,” he said.
“I was Scottie Pippen’s personal trainer for three years and Monica Seles for a year.”
2010 will be his 15th year in the NBA.
Some of the other players he has worked with include Michael Jordan, Gilbert Arenas, Penny Hardaway and now the number one pick in this year’s draft John Wall.
Cleary also recently got married in the US capital to Patrice, with whom he has a two-year-old son Hunter.
In fact the couple’s ceremony, which was attended by long-time Shoalhaven family friend John “Tige” Bracher, was near the Capital building in Washington DC, with Bracher acting as best man.
“It was great to have Tige come over for the wedding, he spent three weeks here and I think he saw more of America than most Americans in that time – it was a lot of fun,” he said.
The wedding was also attended by another well known Shoalhaven basketball name, Dennis Curran a US import who played with the Shoalhaven Tigers in Nowra in 1980.
“He was really the reason I came to America, he had a profound influence on me when I was 10,” Cleary said.
