All Kael Richardson, point guard for 2007 European Division II runner-up SHAPE, did during his spring vacation was earn a scholarship.

Richardson, who topped 50 percent on field goal attempts and 30 percent on three-point tries last season, accepted a scholarship offer to play basketball at Volunteer State Community College in Gallatin, Tenn.

“He and his father came to Vol State for a tryout,” VSCC basketball coach Rusty Melvin wrote in an e-mail to Stars and Stripes. “He played very well, and my assistant coach thought he was the best point guard out there.”

Richardson, who had been accepted as a student at Western Kentucky, began looking for a school where he could play basketball shortly after the European tournament in February, according to his mother, Shirley. Richardson compiled a highlight DVD and began circulating it.

Returning to the family hometown of Henderson, Tenn., in April, Richardson and his father, Steve, the Spartans’ head coach, arranged for the VSCC staff to evaluate him. Richardson went through three workouts, then returned to Europe to await the decision. It came in early May.

Melvin indicated that Richardson would play point guard.

“We signed two 6-9 post players who will need the ball,” Melvin wrote, adding that Richardson’s “attitude and determination during the workout will provide us with leadership this fall.”

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