OC Register: International Players Bring Wealth of Experience to Titan Hoops
FULLERTON, Calif. - Mirin Fader of the Orange County Register took a look at the international influence on this year's Cal State Fullerton men's basketball team. She spoke with Richard Peters, Jhan Paul Mejia, Arkim Robertson, Jackson Rowe and Darcy Malone, who were all born outside the United States.
By Mirin Fader | Click to Read the Full Story
Richard Peters was 9 years old when he moved to Toronto, Ontario, from Arima, Trinidad. The same comments followed him everywhere he went, as he sprouted from 6 feet tall to 6-6 in the sixth grade.
Whoa! You're really tall! You should play basketball!
"I was like, 'What is this?'" Peters said, stunned. "In Trinidad, we don't really do basketball. You watch it on T.V. We knew who Michael Jordan was. But basketball itself? Nuh uh."
Peters was a soccer player, in love with the sport of pride in Trinidad, which calls its national team the Soca Warriors. "No matter how fast, how tall, how old, we do soccer," he said.
But as he continued to tower over his classmates, he gave in to try hoops. Best case, he'd be good at it. Worst case, he'd make some friends.
His first practice? "I thought basketball was a horrible sport," said Peters, now 6-foot-11 and 270 pounds. Hoops was way out of his comfort zone, but he worked and worked at it, eventually finding love within the sport and playing for Canada's Under-17 team that took third at the FIBA World Championships (FIBA is International Basketball Federation, the world governing body for basketball).
"It's a beautiful sport," said Peters, who traveled to many places to pursue hoops at higher levels, playing for prep schools in Miami, New Hampshire and Arizona. He was named a 2011 McDonald's All-America Nominee for Arizona.