Senior punter
Thomas Duyndam was surprised by only one thing when he came to Portland State from Melbourne Australia…well, maybe two.
“The biggest difference between there and here is the emphasis on your sport in school. In Australia, you don't work every day. Here, it's your life. Your life is pretty much football,” said the 6'4” 215-pound two-time honorable mention All-Big Sky punter and first Australian ever to play for the Vikings.
Overall, the culture was pretty much what he'd expected and he downplayed any sharp cultural differences between the two English speaking countries.
“The culture here was pretty much what I expected… not like the movies.” It helped that “a couple of my friends had been here for six months going to school. They gave me a pretty good idea what to expect,” Duyndam said.
His second surprise was the education level of the average American college freshman.
“My senior year (at St. Bernard's College in Essendon, Victoria—the equivalent of an American high school) was a lot harder than my freshman year here. I had six classes as a senior,” he said, noting that things leveled out by the time American students had a year of college level courses under their belts.
Duyndam started playing Australian rules football when he was five years old. He's a big fan of all sports and actually has found the sports culture here to his liking. In Australia, he also competed in basketball, swimming and track.
In football, he played on an AFL under-16 national championship team in 2005 (Victorian Metropolitan NAB), competed for the Calder Cannons from 2005-2007, a TAC Cup under-18 team and played American football for the Bay City Buccaneers in the Victoria Metropolitan League, where he was named Punter of the Year in 2008.
“I really like sports and have liked the experience here where it's such an important part of the culture. I watch college football, the NFL, basketball… all sports,” he said.
To the average American sports fan, Australian Rules Football is a confusing mixture of rugby and American football. But one thing is for sure: there's a lot of kicking.
Duyndam wanted to come to the US for college.
“I thought it would be a good experience. I'd been in the same house, in the same place all my life and wanted to see somewhere else,” Duyndam recalled.
He watched American college level football and the NFL on television. His ticket, he decided, was something he'd been doing since he was five… kicking.
“When I got to my final serious years in Australia, I decided to specialize in kicking. I practiced for about a year and a half and went to a couple of kicking camps in the US. A person I was practicing with knew one of the former coaches here,” he recalled.
And, the Vikings were glad to have him.
As a true freshman, he started every game as the Viking punter, had 44 punts for an average of 38.5 yards, forced 14 fair catches and kicked 13 inside the 20 yard line.
He just got better his sophomore year. He improved his punting average by more than four yards to 42.6 yard per punt (good enough to rank 3rd all-time among PSU punters), coming just short the school record of 42.8 yards set by John Kincheloe in 1979. That year, 13 of 51 punts finished inside the 20-yard line; there were 10 fair catches and only one touchback. He ranked second in the Big Sky Conference and 11th in the nation. Punting isn't just height and distance though, and his average dropped during his junior season (to 39.0) because the coaching staff wanted to add directional and rolling punts, preventing opponents from making returns or setting up blocks.
Duyndam has a 41.1 average through three games this season.
“Tommy has a powerful leg. His length is a strength. He's tall and usually taller guys produce more power. He's usually able to place the ball where you want it,” said Head Coach
Nigel Burton.
The Vikings do “traditional punting and roll punting and he's able to do both. That's not typical. There aren't a lot of college kickers with that much skill,” Burton added.
“Kicking it long and high” is what Duyndam enjoys about kicking. “It really feels good when you hit it like that.” And, although he has trouble coming up with a highlight of his career here… he does remember his 67-yard career punt against Montana (he didn't remember who it was against). “I just got into it,” he said, and grinned when it was suggested he might like to order a dozen more.
When he's finished his Physical Activity and Exercise degree he'll probably head back to Australia (although his girlfriend Megan Ellis, a senior on the Viking volleyball team, from Burnaby, BC, might have something to say about that) and has a career as a fire fighter in mind.
“I've always had a thing about it (being a firefighter). I've always been drawn to it since I've finished high school,” he said.
He plans to continue with football when he goes back, “not competition, just for fun… a club team.” While he's been here, he said he's kept up on what's happening in Australia “and I try to watch a bit of Australian Football”.
He'll be glad to see his family and friends again. His parents came here during his sophomore year (my sister Brogan was away at an Australian University) but he's kept in touch two or three times weekly with “Skype” calls.
But, he has thoroughly enjoyed the experience.
Because of the focus on sports, “there's a great family atmosphere here. Everyone is friendly. Everybody talks with each other and we hang out together.”
He's created a lot of friendships that he'd like to see continue, which might have been a challenge a few years back…think Skype again.
He'll go back having accomplished his goals. He'll have a degree. He's done some traveling and enjoyed exploring on the west coast and a little bit of the east coast.
Regardless of where he goes, he won't leave Portland State entirely. There will always be a piece of him in the PSU football record books.
