An American Wildcat in…Meckenheim?
As 2011 SUNYIT graduate and former All-American basketball player Dave Golembiowski prepares for his second season playing professional basketball in Germany, Wildcat Athletics sat down with the 6-8 forward to talk about his experience abroad, being a pro, and the relative benefits of speaking English as a first language. Editor's note: WA stands for Wildcat Athletics, and Dave Golembiowski is referred to as "Gumby," a nickname he picked up while playing at SUNYIT, probably because "Golembiowski" was too hard to pronounce. After a year in Germany, we imagine Dave has received his due penance for the verbal strife his surname inflicted on Wildcat fans for four years.
WA: So I guess we'll cover the basics first – how long where you overseas?
Gumby: I left about August 21st of last year. I came back a few days before Christmas and then went back in January, and then was there until the middle of April. Actually, I stayed a little while longer because a few guys on my team and I we put together another team and went to Spain for a tournament. At the tournament we played against some Italian teams, a French team, and a couple other German teams.
WA: So this was after your season had already ended?
Gumby: Yeah, it was actually a bit of a vacation – the place where we played is called Malgrat de Mar – our hotel was right on the Mediterranean. It's a huge vacation spot, like a spring break sort of place.
WA: Let me get this straight – you go to Germany in August, an American kid who doesn't speak a lick of English, and by the end you're coordinating a travel team? How did you make friends so fast?
Gumby: [laughing] Well there was an English guy and a Bulgarian on my team and they had similar schedules, so to start I got really close with them. That's kind of how it works: you're [the players from outside Germany] considered "the professionals." But I got close with one of the German players too. I would go over to his house to watch games.
WA: Any other trips while you were over there?
Gumby: I really didn't have the opportunity. This year I think I will definitely visit Munich.
Gumby: I was in West Germany in a state called North Rhine-Westphalia. I lived in Meckenheim, which is a town about ten minutes away from Bonn. Bonn is about the 19th biggest city in Germany, but we were only 45 minutes south of Cologne, which is the 4th biggest city in Germany. We went there a few times and got to see a lot of the sites; they have huge cathedrals there – for example the Kölner Dom [referred to as the Cologne Cathedral in English], which we went to the top of and you can see the whole city.
WA: So was this the first time you'd been out of the country?
Gumby: First time to Europe, not first time out of the country.
WA: So you get off the plane in Europe for the first time – what were your first impressions? Were you completely culture-shocked?
Gumby: Well when I first got off the plane I was actually pretty tired [laughing]. There was some serious jetlag. But actually driving on the highway once we got off of the plane, it looked pretty similar.
WA: I've heard that of all the EU countries, Germany is the most familiar for Americans.
Gumby: Definitely – the way the highways are set up, the food, the culture – it's definitely more similar than other places. But some things are still way different. For example you don't see any SUV's, it's all smart cars. (Editor's note: We emailed Gumby to ask how "smart" he now considers these cars after a year of folding his 6-foot-8 frame into them. He has yet to respond.)
WA: Obviously you were being paid to play basketball and had responsibilities related to that, but what kind of freedom did you have to explore the area outside of basketball?
Gumby: Well I did have my own transportation – I split a car with some other guys on my team, but I didn't drive much since I can't drive stick! This year I'll have a car.
WA: Did you take any classes while you were over there?
Gumby: Not last year, but this year I'm going to be taking a German class.
WA: Are you saying you didn't master the language in one year?
Gumby: [laughing] A few phrases here and there I guess, but speaking it is way more difficult than understanding it. I was able to understand a lot by the time I left at least.
WA: Not to sound too parental, but I'm curious on a team in which you were the only American, playing in a country where you didn't speak the language – how did you make friends?
Gumby: Well everybody on my team spoke English.
WA: But everyone on your team was German!
Gumby: Yeah just about, 9 out of 12 anyway.
WA: I remember it was the same when I went to Europe – everyone speaks English! It completely put me to shame.
Gumby: [laughing] That's what shocked me the most. I was just like "Yeah, I'm in your country and you all have to speak my language! But they expect it because they know we don't all learn German in school the way they learn English. They know our education system is a lot different and obviously they live so close to so many other countries that learning other languages is a little more natural."
WA: Yeah, and a lot of Europeans watch English or American TV from what I remember.
Gumby: Oh the people I met love watching American TV. And once they learn to speak English they love talking to Americans in order to practice their English! So it kind of worked out.
WA: I guess we'll get to basketball – how did your team do?
Gumby: We ended up pretty good. This was the team's first year in the league, so the goal was to stay in the league. The way it works is the bottom two teams move down a league, and the top two teams move up a league.
WA: Kind of how soccer works over there, right?
Gumby: Exactly. So we got off to a rough start – we had a lot of new players from the year before, including myself. Once we got back from Christmas break, however, we really started coming together and playing better. After a while it became more and more certain that we were going to stay in the league.
WA: I don't mean to insult your modesty but I checked your team's website and, well, it's all in German – if you don't mind my asking, how did you do, personally, in terms of your stats?
Gumby: [laughing] That's all right I don't mind. I averaged about a 17 and 8 [17 points-per-game, 8 rebounds per game], and close to 2 blocks a game, which was towards the top of the league.
WA: Wow. So before you went did you have a sense of where you'd fit in on the team? In other words, did you think you'd perform so well statistically?
Gumby: Well going in I knew that in this league you only get one American per team, or I guess one non-EU (European Union) citizen per team. So each team usually goes out and finds somebody from America, and basically each team expects that player to be the best guy.
WA: So…no pressure.
Gumby: [laughing] Yeah they basically told me early on that they wanted me to average about 15 points a game and about 10 rebounds. I think I did a pretty good job, but the goal for this year is to average over 20 and 10.
WA: Were there any points during the season where the team let you know, "Hey you need to step it up a bit?"
Gumby: Well I had a great coach, and he was really supportive. If I had a bad game he was encouraging and just told me basically to keep playing my game.
WA: You're going back this year for another season with the same team. At what point did you know you'd be picked up for another year? I'm guessing there's no "guaranteed contracts".
Gumby: Oh yeah, there's never any guarantees. I saw a lot of guys get sent home while I was over there from other teams; a lot of times it's just about money. A couple teams will even send their American guy home with a month or two left in the season just because they already know where in the league they're going to finish. Usually it's a team that knows they're going to be one of the bottom two teams, but not always. Actually our rival team outside of Bonn already knew they were going to stay in the league, so they sent their American home with a month left in the season just to save money. And he was their leading scorer and assist man! Stats definitely don't dictate it. It's all about the money, but then another very important thing to them over there is personality. If you don't get along with the rest of the team, they'll send you home. So before they left they told me they wanted me to come back, but it took some time for them to get the money together – they just sent me a contract a couple weeks ago.
WA: Are you excited to be going back this year?
Gumby: Definitely. And I heard that almost all of the German guys are coming back, which will be great because the continuity factor was definitely something we lacked last year. Some of the other teams had guys that had played together for five years, whereas for most of us last year it was the first time we'd played together!
WA: As a former Division III pitcher who couldn't break the state speed limit with a fastball yet still regrets giving up "the dream," I hate to even ask you this question, but have you thought about your future in basketball at all?
Gumby: Right now I'd like to just keep playing pro ball, and hopefully move up a league at some point and keep making more money every year. But I also coached an under-16 team while I was over there, and I'll be doing that again this year, so building my coaching resume has been a huge plus as well because that's definitely something I'd like to do down the road.