COLD WEATHER, WARM WELCOME FOR CONGOLESE FRESHMAN BRADLY BASILA

Tom Keegan
onwardtrojans@gmail.com

​Imagine you are 15 years old. You hug your mother, kiss her goodbye, and step onto an airplane that begins a journey from a hot and sunny French-speaking city of 17 million people. Destination: a chilly, English-speaking town with a population of not quite 15,000 residents, 7,050 miles from home.
Brand-new school. Open arms of welcome, a bedroom, and a seat at the dinner table in the home of a host family.
It’s a big transition for a teenager from Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo. Yet, based on how frequently a smile lights up the face of Chesterton freshman student Bradly Basila, the newest member of the school’s varsity basketball program, he appears to be adjusting well in his new home away from home.
The vibe he gave off doing his first interview, waiting to read the questions put to him in English and translated to French on an iPhone via google translate, confirmed as much.
Four words sum up Basila’s first impressions of Chesterton: cold weather, warm people. After reading a question that google translated into French, he first spoke with the universal language that is a smile. Then he put it into French words the equivalent of: “Everything is going well.”
His host family, Luke and Raechel Miller, as well as school administrators, teachers, teammates and coaches, and a custodian who knows what it’s like to clear communication hurdles to play high school basketball, have rallied to the aid of the 6-foot-7 student blessed with a smooth gait and a friendly demeanor.
“Technically, his first day of school was e-learning and it was negative-something outside,” ninth-year Chesterton basketball coach Marc Urban said. “Definitely a culture shock in that regard, going from 90 to minus-10, so that part’s been big.”
Urban said that Basila’s mother wanted him to get an education in America and she had a connection to the area through knowledge of La Lumiere in LaPorte. “He’s here because his mom wanted him to live with a host family and go to a school with good academics,” Urban said.
Mrs. (Lei) Sensibaugh’s language learners program, known in many schools as “English as a second language,” is aiding Basila’s transition. John Little, a CHS custodian who is deaf, also has played a role in bridging the basketball communication gap.Urban said he and Little went through the team’s playbook and Little shared signs for the plays Urban told him would be used when Basila is on the floor.
“John’s a good dude, a good dude,” Urban said. “He was a good high school basketball player
and he knows basketball. The sign language he taught us has helped Bradly, and it’s helped all our guys in a lot of ways.”
After attending practice, Little texted Urban, conveying that “It reminded me of when I was in
high school and my coaches were trying to communicate with me.”
While awaiting an eligibility ruling from the IHSAA, Basila was allowed to practice upon enrolling in school and participated in warmups before the near upset of No. 2 Crown Point. He is set to make his game debut tonight against visiting Lake Central, a 7 p.m. tipoff.
Since word has spread in the high school halls that the tall new student would play against LC, higher attendance than usual seems a strong possibility. Big crowds can raise the temperature of a gymnasium, but it won’t ever get too hot for the newest Trojan.
“The first day of practice, Bradly had long sleeves on and he said he was cold,” Urban said. “You don’t really think about it, but he’s been playing outside in 90-degree weather. Now you’re inside a gym and it’s 69 and it feels all right to us, but to him, it feels cold, especially when you get sweating. Those are just little things. He’s probably never worn a coat before now. He’s figuring it out. I feel like he’s adjusted pretty well.”
Basila had no trouble identifying the most difficult aspect of the transition: “It’s so cold.” That answer didn’t surprise his coach.
“When it got to 40 out the other day, he asked if the seasons were changing,” Urban said with a smile. “Not yet. Not yet.”
The basketball coach gives students who enroll in-season what amounts to a two-day tryout. It was clear to Urban on the first day that Basila would not need to develop on the freshman or JV team. He will come off the bench tonight, the coach said.
“Bradly’s very intelligent, even getting some feedback from his teachers, they all said he’s really smart and picks up on stuff really well,” Urban said. “That’s been the most impressive thing about him, how hard he works, how high his motor has been, how intelligent he is, and how willing he is to get better, but also how he’s been able to pick up on our stuff really well. Those are the things that you just want in a kid. It’s really impressive to see.”
Basila shared his morning routine, which, including making his bed the first thing he does when he rises, isn’t necessarily typical for an American teenager.
“I wake up at 4:45,” he said. “I do some exercise. I have to run, and I do squats and lunges and push-ups.”
For now, the cold air dictates that the running is done on a treadmill.
“I was explaining to him how our weight class with Coach (Matt) Wagner works and I said we lift three times a week, and Bradly said, ‘Why not more?’ He’s a hard worker,” Urban said.
Basila’s frame, more muscular in the legs than the upper body, shows no signs of fat. As for his game, the player who matches up with him most frequently in practice, 6-7 junior Caden Schneider, is perhaps best qualified to address that.
“He’s good. He’s real good,” Schneider said. “He’s hard to guard. He’s quick. He’s agile. He’s got long arms, so it’s hard to get up there and block his shot.”
And his crash course in learning the plays, how is that going?
“He’s getting there,” Schneider said. “He understands most of them. There are a couple of them you have to
remind him, but he’s done a really good job understanding them.”
Schneider has taken Spanish classes and said that had he known that he one day would have a French-speaking teammate, he would have taken French instead.
“Learning the signs is new, but it’s interesting,” Schneider said. “I like it.”
A strong feel for the game softens the impact of the language barrier, according to Urban.
“If he can watch the group in front of him, he picks it up really well. He has a good feel of how to keep our offense moving, gets the ball reversed, gets in a ball screen and kind of goes,” Urban said. “We’re going to keep adding and adding and adding pieces of our offense for him and try to keep it as simple as we can. The other day he went to a handoff, the guy pressed up, and he turned it down, so he’s playing the game. He’s not just trying to impress us, he’s playing the game.”
And playing the game in a way that impresses coaches and teammates alike. His new friends don’t doubt Baslia has what it takes to learn as a student and a basketball player, but they are not without worry for him.
Back home, violence from protesting rebels has broken out in the streets of Kinshasa, as well as the city of Goma, to the extent that on Tuesday the US Embassy issued the following statement about Basila’s hometown: “Due to an increase in violence throughout the city of Kinshasa, the U.S. Embassy advises U.S. citizens to shelter-in-place and then safely depart while commercial options are available. N’Diji airport in Kinshasa remains open to commercial flights. We encourage U.S. citizens to depart via commercial flights when they feel like they can safely go to the airport. Please be aware there may be roadblocks and protests on the way to the airport, which could impact travel time.”
Basila had to end his interview, summoned by Mrs. Sensibaugh through Urban to take more language testing. As Urban watched Basila walk out of the gymnasium, he spoke of the unrest in Congo.
“It’s not good,” he said. “They have a curfew over there right now, have to be off the streets when the sun goes down. Obviously, it’s scary.”
Then he shifted the conversation back to Basila.
“He has a great personality,” Urban said. “He’s very nice, very kind, very grateful. I think he understands the opportunity that his mother has given him to be in America, and he’s going to take full advantage of it. You
can tell the amount of appreciation he has for the way people have embraced him and made him feel welcome.”
Spectators at tonight’s game vs. Lake Central can show the extent to which that appreciation, measured in decibels, is mutual when No. 22 in the home jersey comes off the bench to make his American basketball debut.