Eli Sparkman gives peek behind semester in Chile, return to South Carolina

South Carolina guard Eli Sparkman spent two seasons with the program from 2022-24. The Tennessee native joined the team as a walk-on and spent time coming off the bench at various points.

Then, ahead of the 2024-25 season, Sparkman decided to study abroad as part of the undergraduate international business program. That meant instead of being in Columbia, S.C., Sparkman would spend February to June of 2025 in Santiago, Chile.

“It was a great experience,” Sparkman told GamecockCentral. ” … I loved being there, I made a lot of good friends.”

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Meeting a bunch of different people and experiencing so many new things was something Sparkman deeply enjoyed.

Most of his time was spent in Santiago; however, he did have the opportunity to travel around.

“I got to travel around the country and Argentina also with some of the other USC students that were down there,” Sparkman said. “South Carolina international business, obviously, is an amazing program and gave us a great opportunity to go down there.”

Sparkman didn’t have any particular stories of his trip that immediately came to mind. During his semester overseas, he spent time traveling to Mendoza and Buenos Aires in Argentina. However, one spot in Chile stood out from his time abroad, he said.

“My favorite trip out there was probably to San Pedro de Atacama in the desert. It was really a kind of out-of-this-world place, I had never seen anything like it,” Sparkman said. “I would say that was probably my favorite memory or favorite trip I took with my friends down there.”

Keeping up with college basketball in the United States is obviously difficult when overseas. However, while he didn’t keep up with the overall landscape, he kept up with South Carolina.

“I was in Columbia in the fall, so obviously I was keeping up then. But, when I was down there, not too much people down there watch American sports,” Sparkman said. ” Overall, college basketball, I was pretty out of the loop. But I was keeping up with the guys for sure. I was watching South Carolina, some of my old teammates, but that’s about it.”

Being able to return to the court for South Carolina after time on another continent is great, he said.

“It’s a great opportunity to be back with these guys. You know, there’s not too many faces that are still here from my sophomore year, but I think all the new guys are meshing very well. I’m excited to be back,” Sparkman said.

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