Joanne Engle Austin Branch 112, Secretary of the Supreme Court
We Slovak-Americans are a proud group and when we hear of our ancestral country or someone from our ancestral country in the news or in sports, we take notice. That’s what happened to me when I learned my alma mater, Syracuse University (SU), has a Slovak playing for their Division I National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Men’s Basketball team. His name is Marek Dolezaj and he graciously agreed to meet me before practice on a typical Syracuse afternoon in February: just above freezing and with a fresh coating of snow. Marek is tall and lean at 6’10” and 185 lbs. and is playing his third year with the team as a Forward. He sat down with me in the beautiful Carmelo K. Anthony Basketball Center up on the SU hill to talk for a few minutes about his Slovak upbringing and how he ended up coming to Syracuse for basketball.
Marek was born in Bratislava, Slovakia, to Milos and Ladislava, a banker and professor respectively, in April of 1998. He has height and athleticism in his genes: his father is 6’8”, his mother was a high jumper, and his older sister played volleyball. Marek first played soccer like much of the rest of young European children but around the age of seven he said a coach suggested he give basketball a try and the rest, as they say, is history. Marek played basketball for the Karlovka Basketball club in Bratislava and represented Slovakia in the Under-16, Under-18 and Under-20 national teams. He also played in Spain for one year at age 16. He was good at basketball, not just with the natural height but with talent, and on top of that he enjoyed playing. Marek began thinking that he could possibly make a living doing what he loved. During this time, he started putting videos of himself on YouTube which was noticed by SU Assistant Basketball Coach Adrian Autry. Autry had seen the videos, called Marek in Bratislava, and eventually traveled to Slovakia to recruit Marek. He was given a basketball scholarship to Syracuse University and began his freshman year at SU in 2017.
He had learned English in school as a student but he said learning it in a classroom is completely different than having a normal conversation with English speakers. He said his first three months at SU were mostly spent with his head down and his keeping quiet. Coming to a new land and getting the full immersion experience can be daunting but Marek had help. He met up with several Slovak families in the area and he’s grown close to a couple of them over the past three years. I asked if he speaks his native tongue with the families but he said he actually speaks English when he’s hanging out with them. He has also had an American girlfriend for about two years so even though he’s only been in the US for three years, his English is fantastic!
Syracuse basketball sometimes has events over the summers, like last summer when SU played in Italy, but Marek tries to get home to Bratislava every summer when he can. He visits anywhere from two to six weeks if he can manage it. His family also comes to the US to see him. His parents were here last Thanksgiving and his sister came for Christmas and he meets up with them in New York. He hopes to get home again to Bratislava for a few weeks after this semester.
The key differences Marek notices between Slovakia and the United States, besides the language, is that Americans tend to have a faster pace; we work a lot, eat on the go, get our food in drive-through’s, Starbuck’s to go, we go to work, go home, and do it again, and again, and again… He said that folks in Slovakia tend to sit and talk over a meal or will sit down over coffee instead of always getting everything to go. Slovaks also have more time off than Americans, and I guarantee that that contributes to the more relaxed pace.
We were running out of time and basketball practice was going to start soon so I asked Marek what his plans were post-SU. He was pragmatic and said he has a year to go in school and wants to finish his degree in Education at Syracuse. He said he’ll figure out what to do when the time comes and I cannot agree with him more. He was friendly, relaxed, and genuinely pleasant to talk to and I’m hoping for the best for Marek. If he wants to play in the National Basketball Association (NBA) I will be rooting for him all the way! I googled Slovakian NBA players and found only one from the early 1990’s (Richard Petruska from Levice, Slovakia, drafted by the Houston Rockets in 1993). As a Slovak-American I’m proud of my heritage and cheer on the country of my ancestors when I see teams from it; the Slovak Olympic Hockey team, Slovak tennis players competing in Grand Slam matches, and Marek Dolezaj playing some awesome hoops here for my own alma mater. Way to go Marek!
Marek Dolezaj from Bratislava, Slovakia, currently plays for Syracuse University
