The Warrnambool Seahawk's desire to play basketball for an American college hasn't waned but he's put foundations in place to establish a career off the court in Australia.

Nicolson, 18, is working as a teacher's aide at Brauer College - the school he graduated from last year - and has a place to study secondary teaching at university in Ballarat in 2022.

"I wanted to be over in America and going to college but because of COVID I had to come up with a back-up plan," he said.

"I'd certainly still like to (go to the US to play) and I am still working towards it, but it's very up in the air."

Working as a teacher's aide has helped Nicolson confirm a passion for teaching.

"I thought it would be a good experience to know if it (working in a school) was for me or not and I am loving it," he said.

"I go into lots of different classrooms and help individual kids or sometimes different classes need more help."

Nicolson, who lives in Mailors Flat, said the rewarding aspect was seeing the students improve.

"I am hoping to become a maths-science teacher. I like helping especially year 7s get a bit better with their maths.

"A lot of them don't want to stay around (in maths) until year 12 but I can at least help them with counting money and basic things like that you need in most jobs.

"Any classroom that a kid needs it, I like to help them. Just seeing their faces when they learn something new or just having fun and looking forward to coming to school, that's what we're all here for."

Nicolson is also learning on the basketball court.

He is establishing himself in the Big V competition and scored 19 points against Southern Peninsula on Saturday night.

"It is good helping in any way I can, preferably on both ends of the court," Nicolson said.

"On the weekend it just happened to be more scoring. It was only my eighth or ninth game of Big V basketball so it's good to be putting up some numbers."

Warrnambool sits ninth of the 12-team division one ladder with three wins and five losses.

But the Alex Gynes-coached side has played less games than its rivals thus far.

Nicolson said Gynes had made a positive start to his first year at the helm.

"In the last couple of weeks we've really changed the way we want to play offensively and now we've turned our vision towards our defensive side," he said.

"He's been great in terms of looking at both sides, offence and defence, to improve us.

"We certainly still have a lot of room to improve on and he'll help us get there."

Benson Steere and Tom Symons, who have returned to the club this season, have also provided leadership for Nicolson.

Warrnambool plays Shepparton, which it defeated at the Arc earlier this season, away this weekend.

"It's the two longest trips back-to-back," Nicolson said.

But the road trips have helped the teenager get to know his teammates better.

"Everyone is so kind and friendly," he said.

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