ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, October 4, 1996 TAG: 9610040015
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-8 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: KEITH POMPEY STAFF WRITER
FORMER NORTHSIDE STAR Chad Briscoe extends his playing career and earns his college degree in Sweden.
Chad Briscoe owes his semi-pro basketball career in Sweden to being in the right place at the right time.
The former All-Timesland player at Northside High School was too small and too slow to lure Division I recruiters. During his senior year at Division III Anderson University in Indiana he averaged only eight points a game.
But last week, the 6-foot point guard began his second season with the Fackelbararna basketball team in Vetlanda, Sweden.
"It's so funny. ... there are millions of basketball players that are 10 times better than me," he said. "But at the same time the Lord opened this door for a purpose and a reason. That is the way that I look at it. I truly believe this is what the Lord wants me to do."
Maybe so.
During his senior season at Anderson, his basketball coach handed him a questionnaire.
"It asked if you were interested in playing basketball overseas," Briscoe said. "Me and my coach filled it out and sent it overseas. Then a couple of [Fackelbararna] scouts came over ... and saw me work out. They asked me if I wanted to play for them and I signed on the dotted line."
By joining Fackelbararna in the spring of 1994, Briscoe left Anderson one class short of a degree in education. However, that was the furthest thing from his mind.
"All I wanted to do was keep playing ball," Briscoe said. "The hardest thing [to deal with] is when you're done with college and there's no more basketball. I call [playing in Sweden] a way to prolong my career. The only things that I was worrying about was not knowing where to go and only speaking English."
Upon arriving in Vetlanda, Briscoe learned a different style of basketball.
At Anderson his job was to walk the ball upcourt and feed it to the big men. Now, he has the green light to shoot in a run-and-gun offense.
"At first, the game was so wide open that I wasn't used to that," he said. "I was just go, go, go. I had to get used to that."
Briscoe averaged 23 points and five assists a game that first season.
He also learned that Fackelbararna wasn't the average basketball team. He and most of his teammates lived in and studied at the Torchbearer Bible College. And after games, they would preach the importance of religion to their fans.
"That was great," he said. "It wasn't just the fact of playing basketball, the biggest aspect is the fact of witnessing to the kids after the game. People want to understand the American culture, but they also want to witness and share in your faith in Christ."
This season, Briscoe is taking his trip to Sweden to another level. Working as a student-teacher, he will earn the credits he needs to graduate.
"I guess this is one of those things that the Lord has a hand into because everything is falling into place." he said.
LENGTH: Medium: 61 linesby CNB