Image credit: @ChyonKondylasPhotography
Playing 300th NBL1 West game in a Perry Lakes Hawks uniform and in Albany isn’t how Seva Chan might have pictured it, but the Cockburn Cougars life member is rightfully proud to reach the mark.
Chan now reaches his 300th game in the SBL/NBL1 West having first made his debut at the Cougars back in 2010 as a 16-year-old and he does so as a husband, a father and with his mother still his greatest support while his father is always at the forefront of his thoughts.
Given 244 of Chan's 299 games so far have come in a Cougars uniform where he is a life member, it's only fitting that next Thursday night will see Perry Lakes have the chance to honour his 300-game milestone back at Bendat Basketball Centre against Cockburn.
But before that, Chan will officially reach 300 games in the league this Saturday night and will do so in what will be his 16th game in a Hawks uniform and it will come as Perry Lakes take on the Perth Redbacks in Albany.
Reaching 300-game milestone
Chan has achieved plenty in his career up to this point including being part of the Cockburn championship team in 2012, being a life member of the Cougars, being an SBL All-Star in 2015 and cementing himself as one of the most skilled playmaking point guards in Western Australia.
He gets to 300 games as just a 31-year-old as well given how he was still in high school when he started playing with the Cougars as he now becomes just the 10th current player, and 55th overall to reach the triple century.
"It's just a good chance to reflect on what I've been able to do. I didn’t dream of getting to this number and it was never a goal to play a certain number of games, it's just occurred naturally," Chan said.
"It's a great opportunity, though, just to reflect and recognise the journey and really appreciate the people and the connections that I've made, and the basketball career that I've had.
"Reaching 300 is an absolute dream and I never would have thought I would have even got this far because even playing one game was a big achievement."
What comes to mind in reflection
A milestone like getting to 300 games does provide the idea chance to do some reflection and while Chan is proud of what he has achieved playing basketball, what means the most is the lifelong friendships made.
"More than anything it's the camaraderie and the relationships I've made through basketball," Chan said.
"I've made a lot of lifelong friends just through basketball and obviously it's been a big part of my life going out there three, four nights a week for about the last 15 years now.
"It's just all those really cool friendships that I've made is what stands out and also the opportunities that basketball has opened up.
"I've been able to travel because of it and talk to some really special and cool people along the way. It's opened a lot of doors for me to allow me to be exposed to different people and environments along the way."
Favourite teammate to play with
Speaking of those teammates that Chan has built a bond with that will last a lifetime, there's never going to be anyone like his long-time Cougars superstar and captain Gavin Field.
Chan missed the majority of the 2024 season through injury with the Cougars and by right, he had no place being out on the court in the last game which ironically was against Perry Lakes just given he still wasn’t really healthy enough.
However, there was nothing that was going to stop him being there for the last game in the legendary 339-game of Field, and he dished out four assists mostly to set up shots for him which was only fitting.
"He's definitely the favourite player I've had to play with for sure. He knows how I move and how I play, and we always played off each other really well," Chan said.
"It meant a lot to be out there for his last game even though I had a lot of niggles and injuries last year, but I wasn’t going to miss that game.
"I couldn’t shoot so I was just dishing out a lot of passes to try and find Gav really which is not much different to the rest of our time playing together anyway.
"It worked out well and then this year as soon as Gav found out about my 300th, he said he'll be there so he will be there next Thursday and he's got a lot of the other Cockburn guys to come along too which means a lot to have their support."
300th game in Hawks uniform in Albany
There's plenty about Chan's 300-game milestone that will mean it's exactly how he would have pictured it given this is his first season playing with Perry Lakes and given the Hawks will be taking on the Redbacks in Albany.
However, he wouldn’t have it any other and is looking forward to Saturday night, but perhaps even more so next Thursday night when the Hawks will be honouring him and it just happens to be that the Cougars will be the opponent.
"Albany was a bit of a spanner in the works to be honest but luckily we're doing the presentation next week on our Thursday night game which will be very nice," Chan said.
"Ironically it's going to be against the Cougars too and when I found that out I was over the moon to be honest.
"It will be great to have the team that I played most of my career at there still and I have a lot of connections there so to be presented with the award in front of a lot of those people will definitely mean a lot.
"I'm looking forward to getting down to Albany as well this week, I heard they've sold it out so it should be a good game."
Decision to join Perry Lakes
Given there was no longer Field for Chan to play with at the Cougars and all of his other long-time teammates have moved on, and so had the coaching staff he thrived under Andrew Cooper and Damian Barr, and he did feel he wanted a fresh start in 2025.
As it turned out, the two teams he weighed up between were the Cooper-coached Warwick Senators and the Barr-coached Hawks, but in the end for a host of reasons he chose Perry Lakes including to play alongside Luke and Keegan Phillips once more.
"A big reason was definitely Damo being there as coach and the Phillips boys because obviously they are the boys I know there the most," Chan said.
"It's also the system and I just want to enjoy my basketball at this point, and I liked the way Damo wanted the team to play. He was the assistant under Coops at Cockburn and I enjoyed playing under those guys, so I thought it would be good to play under Damo.
"It just felt like a good situation for me to be part of and hopefully we can still string it all together in what's a very new team so hopefully things can trend upwards from here and we can make a run for it."
Having a young family now
The last couple of years have certainly been eventful for Chan as well on a number of fronts.
Back in 2023, he signed his first professional contract with the Brian Goorjian-coached Bay Area Dragons, but then just before he got to live out that dream the club ceased to exist altogether.
However, on a more positive front, Chan is now married to wife Dana, the pair share a one-year-old daughter together, and the fact he gets to still play basketball alongside his family life at home, working full-time and he wouldn’t change a thing about life.
"There's absolutely no regrets and I'm more than happy with the life I've got here and am very appreciative of the support and sacrifices from my family as well, especially my wife and now our one-year-old daughter so life's great," Chan said.
"I can't believe she's already turned one, time flies honestly. Life's never been busier since she arrived, but it's been super rewarding as well.
"Just having that support from my wife Dana to let me still go out and leave her for four, five nights of the week with a newborn baby says a lot about who she is as a person as well.
"It has been busy, but it allows me to focus on what's important to me with my family as well and I'm loving everything about being a dad and husband, and still being able to play basketball."
Support of mum and memory of dad
At the forefront of Chan's mind any time he reaches a significant milestone like he will on Saturday night with his 300th game is his late father, who passed away just before the 2019 season and his 200th game.
He will always credit his father as being the greatest influence on his life and basketball, but his mother to this day never misses his game and remains his greatest supporter as well.
"I'm super close to mum still and she comes to every game to watch me, and she's my biggest supporter," Chan said.
"She loves the game of basketball and used to be a player herself so she still really enjoys coming along to watch, and a milestone like this is a good moment for us all to reflect.
"Her and dad would be training me every single day after school and would be rebounding for me, and then mum would get home and make dinner. So all the sacrifices that she's made and dad made, have been a huge part of where I'm at now.
"I'm sure dad would be very proud looking down on me now and it's really special still having mum here for everything. She's also loving being a grandma too and it definitely makes her feel a bit younger I think."