Long Distance: Aussie Issy Morgan ’25 Finds a Home at Davidson

She wasn’t the first Australian player recruited to become a Wildcat, thanks to Australia native Associate Head Coach James Janssen, who has worked to establish the program’s recruiting pipeline alongside Head Coach Gayle Fulks—and the Wildcats weren’t the only U.S.-based team interested in her talent.

“I talked to coaches from Penn State and Colorado State, too, but it was clear Davidson was the place for me,” she says. “I was nervous to go so far from home, and it was a very big deal to pick the right school where I knew I’d be happy, especially knowing I wouldn’t be able to go home very often. I didn’t want to feel lost on a huge campus.

How Morgan defines “home” has changed. She’s grown close to her host family, whom she met through Davidson’s program for international students. She’s also forged friendships with her teammates’ host families and now feels homesick when thinking about leaving Davidson.

“Being a scholar-athlete here has been so challenging but in a good way,” she says. “We have the physical and mental challenges of our sport, which takes a lot of focus and effort, and then we also have to complete our classwork, which we care about doing very well. Our whole team has big dreams related to basketball and outside of basketball, so we work hard at everything we do. I feel like I can graduate from Davidson and do just about anything.”

Team culture has been a huge part of Morgan’s ability to find balance, too. With their mantra “Unity, Integrity, Investment” and a commitment to “Share, Shoot, Stifle,” the teammates compete as one, and it shows. Last year’s season was cut short after several ACL injuries, and although this year’s team has a lot of new talent, that spirit remains.

“Our team has come to Davidson from all over, and I think our ability to gel so well is really special,” she says. “We have five Australians, one player from Hungary, Belgium, Martinique, and seven Americans who come from seven different states. But we really get each other, and we’re all best friends.”

Leadership is a huge part of the team’s success on and off the court.

“We love Coach G—we call her our fearless leader,” Morgan says. “She believes in us so much, and once she thinks or knows we can do something, she’s not going to take ‘no’ for an answer. We have a lot of younger players in big roles this year, and she’s great at filling everyone with confidence. She genuinely cares about us. We’ve all benefited from having Gayle in our lives.”

While Morgan would love to stay longer, commencement arrives in May, and her future could shake out a few different ways. For one, she would love to continue playing, whether that takes her to Europe or to the Women’s National Basketball League in Australia. She’d also like to get her master’s degree and pursue a career in sports psychology, and she recently discovered a Davidson connection to help guide her along that path, too. Her adviser, Psychology Professor Brian Eiler, previously conducted research in sports psychology about 20 minutes from her home in Australia.

For someone who still hasn’t switched over to a U.S. phone number—she’s totally off the grid without access to WiFi—Morgan is proud to call Davidson home, and it will be a big part of her life wherever she goes next.