College basketball

World of difference

Guy Mavoungou, a 26-year-old married freshman from Africa, slowly adapts to U.S. basketball at Eckerd.

By RODNEY PAGE
Published March 4, 2005

[Times photo: Stefanie Boyar] Guy Mavoungou sits in his usual spot during Eckerd's game Feb.23. The freshman has played sparingly while learning the U.S. style of basketball.

ST. PETERSBURG - Guy Mavoungou doesn't get the call often. Usually, the Eckerd freshman goes through pregame warmups then takes his seat at the end of the bench.

But during a midseason game against Sunshine State Conference rival Tampa, Tritons coach Tom Ryan spun from his crouch and pointed to Mavoungou.

Time to play basketball.

As he lifted his 6-foot-8 frame and jogged to the scorers table, the small but boisterous student section continued its chant, "Guy! Guy! Guy!" Mavoungou is what coaches call a "project," and the crowd knows when he enters the game the Tritons must be winning big.

For the most part, Mavoungou looks like he belongs. He runs the floor well. He grabs a rebound. But when he receives a pass underneath the basket, he drops his arms near his knees, resulting in a steal. Just another frustrating reminder that it isn't easy being a 26-year-old freshman thousands of miles from Pretoria, South Africa. That the gap between Division II basketball and South African club leagues is sometimes overwhelmingly large. That the difference between a lonely dorm room and the house he and his wife share back home is monumental.

"(Basketball) is the same game, but the pace is much faster over here," Mavoungou said.

In a lot of ways, everything is faster for Mavoungou.

Guy (pronounced GEE, with a hard "G") Mavoungou is the ninth of 16 children who grew up in Gabon, a country on the west coast of Africa bordered by Cameroon and Congo. He played basketball throughout high school and represented his country in some African tournaments.

But there was no opportunity to play basketball in college, so he left for Pretoria to attend the Boston Business College. He wanted to earn a degree in sports management and administration and become a teacher.

While at school, he met his future wife, Mariette, who worked at the Rand Merchant Bank. He also continued to play basketball in the city's only club league. It was during the club games that fate stepped in.

David DeGroot, a 1974 Eckerd graduate and son of Dudley DeGroot, an Eckerd professor emeritus of anthropology, is friends with Ryan. DeGroot works for the World Bank in South Africa, and Ryan half-jokingly told DeGroot during a visit to St. Petersburg last spring to look for any big men who might want to play for Eckerd.

DeGroot took it seriously and went about finding the best player he could.

"I had to ask my friend, Reg Max, where they played basketball in Pretoria," DeGroot said. "There was one outdoor municipal court in the whole city of 2-million people that everyone gathered to play. One weekend, we went down to watch, and there was Guy. He stood out. I approached him, gave him some Eckerd literature. And a couple days later, he told me he was interested."

DeGroot sent tape to Ryan, who liked what he saw and offered a scholarship.

Then it was up to Mavoungou to decide whether he wanted to come.

Leaving for Eckerd meant leaving behind his wife of three years. It meant going to America for the first time. Did he want to give up the familiar for the unknown?

"At the beginning, I wasn't too keen on coming because I knew it was going to be a big change in my life," said Mavoungou, who is fluent in English as well as French (the official language of Gabon). "New place, new people. It would be my first time in the USA.

"It was the hardest decision I've ever had to make. My wife believed that education should come first. We went online and read about Eckerd College and saw that it was a high-class education. So she suggested I go for it. I've been waiting all my life to come play basketball in the U.S."

Mariette supported her husband.

"When Guy met David and discussed a basketball scholarship, that was going to be Guy's break," Mariette wrote in an e-mail from Taiwan, where she was visiting on business. "I could not be selfish and keep Guy from pursuing his dream. He has dreamt of this since he was a small boy. If a person truly loves another, you would put the other person's dreams and goals before your own.

"But that's not to say I don't miss him terribly."

Mavoungou left Boston Business School before he earned his degree. Aside from the scholarship to Eckerd, he also had a dorm room of his own.

What he didn't have was a car. His life would, basically, be contained to the campus, although he has ventured to Ryan's Pinellas Point house and ridden his bike to Tyrone Square Mall.

He is the first African native to play at Eckerd. He also is a fish out of water, an older freshman who settled down long ago thrust into campus life.

"It's really different. You know how student life is," Mavoungou said. "The music is playing; the parties. I wasn't used to that. I'm used to having my privacy. I have to deal with that from morning to evening."

He also had to deal with basketball. His first practice was eye-opening. The game seemed to be played in fast-forward. This wasn't the South African club league. He was going against teammates who played the game for most of their lives.

"I remember seeing him for the first time, and I thought he looked like he could be in the NBA right now. He's got that kind of body," sophomore teammate Craig Hazel said. "But when he first came here, he didn't know too much about the game. He's developing slowly but surely. It's got to be kind of hard coming from a different culture and a different style of basketball. He's getting more and more comfortable with the team, and I try to help him as much as possible."

Mavoungou has played sparingly this season. He has appeared in parts of eight games, only four conference games, has logged 36 minutes and averages .5 points. He works out before and after practice with teammates. Still, he has a long way to go.

"Sometimes, you want it yesterday, but you have to wait until tomorrow," Ryan said. "It's a little overwhelming right now."

Despite the struggles on the court and loneliness on campus, Mavoungou said he's not going anywhere. He hopes Mariette can make time to come to St. Petersburg for a week this spring. And he plans to return to South Africa for the summer. He talks to Mariette on the phone about 30 minutes each day and also is in regular contact through e-mail.

Mavoungou is undecided on a major, but he plans to return to South Africa and the International School to resume teaching upon graduation.

No matter what happens with basketball, Mavoungou said, his final decision to leave home was based on education, not playing time.

"If I was not going to (graduate), then I wouldn't have come here in the first place," Mavoungou said. "That's something I had to think about. It's very important to me to get my diploma."

[Last modified March 4, 2005, 06:58:22]