POSTED BY: Eurobasket Center
Peter Lisicky
Peter Lisicky (193-G-76, college: Penn St.) former player of Benetton Treviso and Air Avellino with Slovakian passport in an old interview:
Tell us how you decided to become professional basketball player.
I didn't decide to become a professional basketball player, but I definitely wanted to give it a try from an early age. I recall being 14 years old in 1990, and I was asked to speak at a luncheon to a group of retirees from the Kiwanis Club in my hometown. I had just finished my freshman year of high school varsity basketball, and was a starter on a successful team. The retirees asked me a number of questions, including the standard question, "What do you want to do when you grow up?" I had learned about the team Benetton Treviso by reading about Toni Kukoc, and it intrigued me since my Italian grandmother was from Treviso. My response to the retiree's question was, "I would like to continue playing basketball, if possible in the NBA. If that doesn't work out, I could play in Europe for a team like Benetton Treviso". Fast forward eight years to 1998, and I was signing my first professional contract with Benetton Treviso.
Inform us about your first team and what you remember most from that period?
I split time my first year between Benetton Treviso and Vacallo in Switzerland, & I can say it was very educational. Learning to love prosciutto, risotto, milanese and other foods was incredible. Learning to live without air conditioning or TV in English, on the other hand, was quite forgettable. I didn't know it, but I lived only a few hundred meters away from my blood relatives in Treviso that first season. Later on in my career, my grandmother re-connected with them, so I was able to get to know them when I played for Avellino from 2006-09. A great experience to meet them, and we are still in contact today. My experience in Switzerland was interesting...I went from playing in Madison Square Garden in front of 20,000 people in March of 1998, to playing in front of 40 people in Blonay, Switzerland in my first game there in November of 1998. But I loved living there.
Which country you enjoyed most to live in and which one to play?
I enjoyed at least something about everywhere I lived, but the best place overall was Lugano, Switzerland. Great food, great scenery, great people, near Milan, able to take a train to many places, shopping at Fox Town, and having Manuel Raga as my personal tour guide. The best for basketball, though, was Italy. I enjoyed the competition there, and the fans seemed knowledgeable about the game. In some other countries, it seemed like many people were clueless when it came to truly understanding the game.
Do you have still contact with any of your former teammates? What they are doing now?
Read Full interview here
source: BasketballDeal Interviews
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