Teens thrive at basketball camp
So far the team has matched up
against teams from Mount Blue High School, Jay High School and
Livermore Falls High School.
FARMINGTON
They have been here for only five days but already, America has made its mark on nine teenage basketball players from Croatia.
The lively posse of 15- and 16-year-olds, who speak fluent English, has given back in their own way to the country that has welcomed them, keeping credit card machines busy as they eagerly snatch up dozens of basketball jerseys featuring the numbers of their favorite hoop stars like Jason Kidd, Tracy McGrady and Kobe Bryant, and the hottest, hippest b-ball sneakers.
They can’t believe all the stuff there is to buy here, says the group, who hail from Zagreb, the capital city of Croatia and home to just over a million people.
Dubbed the “Triple Threat Basketball Camp,” the hoop stars were brought to Farmington by Wilton-native Michael Soucie, a former basketball star for Mount Blue High School and the University of Maine at Farmington.
Finding Croatia
It was during his tenure at UMF that Soucie met Tanja, a native of Croatia who he ended up marrying in 1999. Last July, the couple, along with their daughter, Tiana, now a bouncy 3-year-old, decided to move to Croatia.
There, Soucie teaches English at the Croatian American Society and coaches basketball at a club in Zagreb.
Because Croatian schools lack competitive sports teams, basketball clubs, explains Soucie, are comparable to varsity teams at American high schools.
Athletes in these clubs have big dreams though, which include coming to the United States to play basketball for a Division 1 school or the National Basketball Association, or getting a contract with a European professional team. In this year’s NBA draft, Croat Zoran Planinic was picked 22nd by the New Jersey Nets.
Soucie says the two-week trip to New England, has been the “opportunity of a lifetime” for the boys.
Dream trip
Last Saturday, “the guys checked out three NBA Summer League games in Boston, including the game when the biggest buzz-drawing players and number one pick in the 2003 NBA draft, Lebron James, got pushed around on the court and injured by one of the most underrated players, T.J. Ford, a 5-foot 10-inch guard from Texas who went eighth in the draft to the Milwaukee Bucks.
They were disappointed to see that James didn’t live up to the court prowess suggested by his recent $90 million shoe deal with Nike but thrilled to see the tiny Ford make a slam dunk, said 16-year-old Tomislav Koran.
Later this week, “Triple Threat” will check out the Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, Mass., and say they are looking forward to paying homage to the two inductees from Croatia, including the 6-foot 11-inch center Kresimir Cosic and the deceased 6-foot 5-inch scoring phenom, Drazen Petrovic.
America the beautiful
Soucie is happy to be back home yet happier to share his home with others. “I think they love it,” he said. “They have their eyes wide open all the time. It’s nice to be home. I like to be able to walk down the street and talk to people,” Soucie adds, making reference to the language barrier he hasn’t yet managed to fully break in his new country.
“I like America very much,” admits Koran, with only a hint of an accent. “It’s amazing, there are such tall buildings. When you say ‘America’ in Croatia, everyone thinks tall buildings, baseball, basketball and American football.” That’s a vision America has lived up to, he said, adding that he is shocked by the kindness of the people here. “I am glad I came on this trip. I would never have come to America if it wasn’t for coach Michael.”
His friend, 15-year-old Ivan Pisuljak echoes that sentiment, saying his trip “has been very nice. Basketball is OK here, but the rules are very different,” he says, laughing. “The most exciting thing is shopping here. There is lot’s of stuff. I expected a lot and I’ve seen a lot.”
As for whether the boys would want to follow in the oversized footsteps of Croatian basketball greats Cosic and Petrovic and move to America for college and career, the two say they are unsure. Says Pisuljak with a grin, “I don’t know what my mom would say about that.”
sdepoy@sunjournal.com
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