International ASSISTance

International athletes coming to the United States is now commonplace in today's sporting world and Central Community College is right on board. The 2016-17 CCC men's basketball team features three players from foreign countries: Marco Fabietti from Italy, Luke Cadzow from Australia and Ruben Fuamba from the Democratic Republic of Congo. Even the league that the Raiders play in features multiple international players. Southeast Community College, for example, has seven foreign players, which is half of the roster.

So, that begs the question, what is the draw for these players who travel a very long way from home to play college basketball? CCC head coach Jerry Drymon believes it all comes down to opportunity.

"When you look at it across the board, the international kids are really hungry to come to the states and play because they don't have college athletics," said Drymon. "They value it and want to work hard at it. So, they bring a different type of mentality than maybe the American players do."

Fortunately, Drymon's experience is that the opportunity for his international players does not end on the basketball court. His foreign players also take advantage of the opportunity in the classroom, often with some very positive results.

"Marco was Academic All-American last year, as was Luke, and both should be this year," said Drymon. "Marco is an engineering student and is actually taking some tough curriculum as well."

Drymon is quick to point out that possessing a solid work ethic is a must in order to be on his team. While both his international and American players have the necessary work ethic, Drymon believes the foreign players bring a different type of work ethic to the table because, in most cases, they have had to compete year in and year out to be on an independent club team.

"They sometimes bring more of that 'lunch pail' attitude, where you show up and work because that's the way they've been brought up," said Drymon. "There has been no playing on a junior high team or a high school team and so they've probably had to work a little bit differently than American players do."

International recruiting relies heavily on connections, word-of-mouth and in some cases, being at the right place at the right time. Given that, how these players made it to central Nebraska is as diverse as their native countries. Fabietti was a foreign exchange student who played for two years at Lourdes Central Catholic High School in Nebraska City. Drymon has a contact in Australia who operates a basketball training facility and Cadzow was mentioned following a six-month workout. Fuamba played at Taag Academy in Florida before signing on at CCC. Still, the international component is only part of Drymon's recruiting strategy.

"We look all over the country and world to find the guys that fit us best," said Drymon.