Daily Courier (Prescott, AZ) writer Doug Cook published a long piece this past Saturday, “An International Endeavor: For the undefeated Orme boys basketball team, it’s all about finding strength in diversity” in which he chronicles The Orme School‘s current, very successful season and the team’s international players.
Cook does a nice job telling the back story; how Orme’s 10 player roster came to feature a talent from Turkey, Switzerland, England, and China.
23-0 through last Saturday, Orme features Metehan Akcam and Hasan Barkcin from Turkey, Michel Nzege from Geneva, and Theo Turner from London.
Serendipity seems to have brought this much talent to Orme’s hardwood- talented players grounded in international basketball which is a bit different from American hoops.
From the article:
“‘All these guys, even though they’re from another country, they’re all experienced,’ he [Roe] said. ‘They’ve all played as kids in organized basketball growing up. When they’re on the court, they know where they need to be and what they need to do, and practices go really smooth.’
Roe added that he has no role in recruiting athletes to compete at Orme and that it was simply ‘luck of the draw.’ The school has educational consultants in different countries that work with Orme administrators to bring foreign students here.
‘When a kid’s parents want to send their child to a boarding school in America, the consultants sit down and say, ‘Where would be the best fit for you?’ ‘ Roe said.
Players such as freshman starting guard Ray Shou of China came here with the main goal of learning English and eventually enrolling in an American university.
‘We had Metehan and Theo last year, and then I knew Metehan was going to bring Hasan here because they wanted to play and graduate together for their senior year,’ Roe said. ‘But I didn’t know anything about Michel and Ray until the first day of school. This was like one of those years where the stars aligned, you could say.’”(DC)
Barkin explained to Cook:
‘In America, generally, players are physical and strong, but in Europe you have to know how to play defense first to be able to play basketball…That’s the biggest factor.’(DC)
Nzege added, ‘We work hard in practice and we don’t joke around.’ (DC)
