RAPID CITY - This summer, high school senior Carter Mitchell is looking forward to seeing the Great Barrier Reef and a kangaroo park in Australia.

He will also see time on a football field.

Mitchell, and possibly other Rapid City Stevens athletes, will travel to near Sydney, Australia this summer to play in the 21st Down Under Bowl. Mitchell, Jeff Moran and Taylor Muhlbeier, were nominated by their head coach to play in the game.

The Down Under Bowl, which will be July 8 through July 18, is the largest football championship tournament hosted outside of the United States. The first Down Under Bowl was in 1989, and teams from the United States, Australia and New Zealand play. Former and current professional football players Jake Plummer and Ahman Green, and Minnesota Vikings Jim Kleinsasser and Dave Dixon, have played in the game. Previous South Dakota teams have played teams from Missouri, Kansas and Nebraska.

"Coaches from throughout the nation pick who's most qualified (from each state)," said Mitchell, who added that his head coach, Paul Ferdinand, talked to him about the game. "I didn't know anything about it. My coach asked if I was interested in playing for an all-star team, and the next day, I got a letter."

The letter, from International Sports Specialists, informed Mitchell that he was one of 35 South Dakotans selected to play on a team at the bowl. It is a rare chance for the Stevens senior to go to Australia and continue to play football.

Ferdinand started the nominated process at the beginning of the football season. He was asked by ISS about his top football prospects for the bowl. At the end of the season, ISS looks at stats, and then sends letters to the players.

Ferdinand said Mitchell is a perfect fit for the game.

"I think as he has gotten older, he has fallen in love with the game," Ferdinand said.

Ferdinand said that players must be dedicated to going to the game because of the cost involved. The trip to Australia - which is about a 17-hour time difference from Rapid City - costs about $2,000 or $3,000. Ferdinand said Mitchell is doing some fundraising and spending some of his own money to go.

"This camp is about kids that love football. He's excited about it, and he hopes it will open doors to get a college scholarship if he doesn't get one before."

Mitchell, a 6-foot-3 receiver who has played football since the fifth grade, is still looking for a place to play college football. The receiver had 17 catches this past season for 293 yards. But, the highlights of the season, if you ask him, were a 93-yard touchdown catch and a 12-catch game against Huron.

He hopes the game will help him not only do that, but also give him a gauge of what college football is like.

"(I want to get) kind of just a sense of what the next level will be like, if I can make it," Mitchell said. "I love the sport, and I am willing to do anything to get to the next level.

"Playing with other players from other states will help me do better and push myself harder."

Unlike many other South Dakota prep football players, Mitchell said his whole year is dedicated to football. He lifts weights and keeps throwing and catching a football to "keep his hands good."

"His junior year, he got ready to have a good senior year," Ferdinand said. "If you want to be successful, you have to commit yourself in the offseason."

Ferdinand is no stranger to the game. He went to the game with Stevens players in 1998 and 2002 - the last time with eight players. He said former players have enjoyed the trip and recommended it to other Stevens students. Players have made lifelong friends with other South Dakotans, and the experience gives the athletes a look into college life by living with complete strangers.

While in Australia, the players do more than play football.

"You go there and visit elementary schools, talk to kids about the United States," Ferdinand said. "The kids that have went have had a great time, have learned a lot."

As far as the bowl itself, teams are put into brackets of four teams. The teams play in two games, and the outcome of the first game determines whether a team's second game is a consolation or championship game.