WASHINGTON, D.C. - Michael Kessens began playing soccer around the age of 5, which is pretty typical for young boys growing up in Switzerland.
But when he was 16 and living in Nyon, about 15 miles from capital Geneva, Kessens was approached by some young boys.
“My friends were playing basketball and they said, 'You are tall and why don't you come?' Soccer was not going that well,” said Kessens, who decided to focus on hoops.
That switch in 2007 is now aiding the Lancers of Longwood, where Kessens is a 6-foot-9 freshman forward who averaged 12.6 points and 10.4 rebounds in his first 11 games, including six double-doubles.
Kessens had just five points with nine rebounds and four blocks against Dartmouth Dec. 1 but left an impression on veteran head coach Paul Cormier of the Big Green.
“He is very skilled,” Cormier said. “He has a good feel around the basket and he has proven he can go outside a little bit. He has a nice game. He has some real good skills and some real talent. If he has a passion to get better, watch out.”
So what has been the biggest adjustment to hoops in The States? “On the court I would say the intensity. It is more intense, more physical. Body-wise American players are bigger. That is what I came here for. This is what I need: a physical game,” Kessens said.
“He is a good player and talented, obviously, with high character,” said Mike Gillian, the 10th-year Longwood head coach. “Coming from Europe, all foreign students, they have obstacles to overcome just to participate because the educational system is different. You have to go through eligibility screening, etc. He never once wavered. He did not say, 'This stinks. I do not want to come.' He did whatever was asked of him. He said physically he needed to get better.”
Kessens began watching video highlights of Michael Jordan and started playing basketball around the same time Dirk Nowitzki of Germany became a star in the NBA.
“You just get hyped and I feel in love with the sport,” said Kessens, sitting at courtside at the Verizon Center in Washington before Longwood's recent game at Georgetown on Dec. 10. “When I heard a German guy was good in the NBA, I thought no way.”
Kessens is the son of a German mother and Somalian father, who is deceased. Kessens speaks French, German and English.
His hometown region is popular with ex-pat celebrities who like to take advantage of Swiss tax breaks. He said German driver Michael Schumacher, a seven-time Formula One champion, and several top French players live close to Nyon.
Kessens is no stranger to moving from one country to another. In 2008 he moved to France to play for the junior team with the club in Cholet, a town of about 55,000 in the western part of the country.
French players who went from the Cholet club to the NBA include Nando De Colo (San Antonio) and Rodrigue Beaubois (Dallas). Kevin Seraphin, who grew up in France, also played for Cholet and is now with the Washington Wizards.
Kessens and Seraphin were teammates on a title team at the junior level with Cholet soon after the Longwood freshman arrived in France.
“There is good basketball (in France) and it is a good club,” Gillian said. “Fortunately that is where he stayed.”
In an ironic twist, Kessens played in an NBA arena for the first time on Dec. 10 when Longwood fell to host Georgetown on the same floor that Seraphin plays for with the Wizards.
“It was kind of special. It was a pretty good experience,” Kessens said. “I wanted (Seraphin) to come but he was on the road in New Orleans.”
Some of Kessens' former European teammates or friends are now playing college basketball in the United States, including Patrick Heckmann (a German with Boston College), Chaed Wellian (from The Netherlands with Tennessee State) and Swiss Christophe Varidel, now with Florida Gulf Coast.
Kessens has had to adapt to a few rules that are different in the NCAA compared to FIBA, the governing body of basketball in Europe and most of the world.
In Europe a player is allowed to touch the ball when it is in the cylinder. And a player is called for walking in Europe if they clearly do not put the ball on the floor before picking up their pivot foot, something that American players find difficult to adjust to when beginning their pro career overseas after playing at the NCAA level.
“The goaltending is something I had to adapt to. You can touch it (in Europe). You can't do that here. I was called for that a couple of times,” Kessens said. “I think it is easier for me coming here than for Americans going to Europe” with the walking call.
Kessens made his first trip to the States a few years ago to visit a friend, whose uncle lives in New York City. He came to New York again this summer before heading to Farmville in mid-August to begin his first semester at Longwood.
“There is a lot of difference between the States and Europe in general, size-wise and distance-wise. The thing I had to get used to was (limited public transportation). I can use public transportation in Switzerland. I didn't have a driver's license. You have to have a car here. I can live without a car in Switzerland with no problem,” he said.
Kessens said he played a lot facing the basket in France while he has played more with his back to the basket with Longwood. European big men are known to have a nice outside shooting touch, and Kessens is no different.
For now the 205-pounder gives up a lot of weight against some of big men that the Lancers have faced, including the game at Georgetown.
“I got mentally ready for it. I am a freshman and even though I have played only five years I practiced with some (talented) guys” in France, he said. “I need to improve physically. That is what I am focusing on.”
Kessens said a major reason why he wanted to come to the States was for an education, partly as a backup plan in case he was injured playing basketball. He attended the Lycee Europe Robert Schumann School in France.
Longwood's Coach Gillian has been to The Netherlands, Belgium and Germany and has good contacts in France, Spain, Portugal and other western European countries. “You don't technically have to go to those countries to do the work (recruiting) in that country,” said Gillian, who said video aids the recruitment of European players. “I have relationships where I can get information on possible recruits pretty easily.”
Gillian said Kessens can only get better. “He gained 10 pounds from August until now. It is hard to put that on during the season. March to September is a huge period of time (to improve). If he gets to 225 or 230 with the skills he has you have something special there,” Gillian said.
Editor's Note: Special consultant David Driver is a Virginia native and has covered college sports in the state for more than 20 years. He has been a staff writer for newspapers in Arlington, Springfield and Harrisonburg and has contributed to the Richmond Times-Dispatch, The Washington Post, Stafford County Sun and The Potomac News in Woodbridge. He was also the first sports editor for the daily Baltimore Examiner. He will continue contributing special feature content to longwoodlancers.com throughout the upcoming 2012-13 academic year as well. A former Division III baseball player at Eastern Mennonite University, David can be reached at www.davidsdriver.com.
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