PLAYERS GUIDE. PART 2. ITALIAN EXPERIENCE.

First steps from NCAA to Euro Pro Basketball

Culture shock and ... basketball culture shock 

After having played for George Washington Colonials for four years, I was ready to embrace European basketball to the fullest in the Summer of 1999. I'm from Eastern Europe myself and I was sure I knew what I was doing. However, very soon I discovered that the picture of Euro pro ball that I had in my mind was a bit different from the reality I was suddenly submerged into...

I write this post hoping that some of the future players will learn from my mistakes and have a little more satisfying initial experience in Europe. Here are the few things that went wrong in the first few weeks of my transition from NCAA to Europe:

• Sign a contract instead of going to try-out... My agents persuaded me that Italy was the best option and sent me for a two-week try-out with an Italian top league newcomer. We are not talking about signing a deal - it was just a try-out and for the lack of better options I board my plane in route Washington, DC - Paris - Florence. As I see it now, it's better to send DVDs of your previous games instead of going to try-out. Your game will speak for itself. Try-outs can be very tricky as nothing is guaranteed and getting injury is a liability. Only later I found out that the team was really looking for a true center position - and I has always been a power forward. So basically they were just wasting my time...
• Agents do not know everything... Soon I find out the hard way not to trust anybody about the visa and document issues. Even though I asked my agent - who was one of the prominent agents in a famous Washington, D.C. sports agency - at least 5 (!) times about the Italian visa required for me to enter European Union, I heard the same answer - "Coach and the club officials will take care of visa as soon as you land in Florence. Don't worry about it!" Guess what? Sure enough the French police in Paris airport didn't want to hear anything about that. I had to buy tickets to Belarus and fly over there through Moscow while my 7-piece luggage was lost along the way and my trip was automatically extended from 14 to 36 hours.
• Take you time when team messes up your travel and visa...  I finally made it to Florence 24 hours later with fresh Italian visa and an exhausted body... Basketball was not on my mind as you can imagine. The practice and friendly game was scheduled the next morning and the coach did not want to hear about the travel issues and the lost luggage that made it to Italy 3 days later. I was given a pair of the most uncomfortable basketball sneakers ever and very tight practice uniform. Needless to say how I played in that first game after traveling thousands of miles within a few days across 8 time zones. I should have refused to play and have some rest first since my extensive travel was all the team's fault. 
• Never agree to drive scooter in Italy (!)... The manager of the team has told me that he is very busy and can not provide me with a ride to practice twice a day, so he suggested that I use a scooter - a sort of mini motorcycle with 50 horse power engine. I told him that it's not a great idea since I don't have a driving license and I have never driven anything except a bicycle. The ride from my apartment to the gym was about 10 minutes and I had no choice. Also, I guess I wanted to be independent and I've tried out a scooter on the parking lot near the arena. It seemed easy to navigate and I agreed. Withing the next 48 hours I fall down twice from that scooter and had multiple cuts and bruisers on my knees and elbows. The helmet, of course, was not even provided to me. I just thank God for taking a special care of me during these first few days of Italian adventure.
• "Wrong" country... Only later did I found out that my nationality - Belarusian - was working against me in Italian basketball market as I was counted as one of only two "Extra European Union players" allowed to play for the Italian club team. Teams have usually preferred to fill these spots with American players. Belarus was not a part of European Union and everyone outside of that union was considered "extra union players" and the team was allowed to have only two of such players. Quite surprisingly, Greece and Turkey was a much better fit for me as I would not be counted as a foreigner according to local league regulations and would have a better chance to make the big teams roster. I should have done my homework instead of solely relying on the knowledge of my agent. 
• Are we really playing basketball? When I was practicing with a team for 10 days I have discovered that the basketball was very slow and position-oriented, there were hardly any fast breaks and it seemed that all I did was setting picks for the guards. One offensive set required me to set about 5-6 screens! The style of play did not fit my understanding of basketball and there were some veteran players who could hold a ball for 20 seconds. I figured I was not just experiencing culture shock - I was in the middle of a true basketball shock...