This material is from one of the leading French basketball editions BeBasket about one of the top-players of this country’s championship Ronald March, who has signed a contract with “Prometey”. The material is built as a narration from the first person.

“I started at the age of 4-5 years old. I spent my youth on playgrounds trying to play with older kids and always getting my ass kicked. Basketball has always been at the centre of everything. Three different universities in five years, it was so long. In fact, I never went to class. I sacrificed studies to go train. When I was in Houston, I stayed up until 3 – 4 in the morning to get to the gym. It was the first time in my life that I could go whenever I wanted and I didn’t see what the problem was with not going to class. Obviously, that was not possible and at the end of my season, I was given a choice between staying one more year in Houston to just study or leaving. I played in Junior College in Phoenix then I went to NAIA in Arkansas. It is like the third division in France, the league after the three NCAA divisions. So obviously it’s not an incredible level but there are still good players, with a lot of guys in the same situation as me. When you can’t play in the NCAA because of your school grades, you go to the NAIA.

It was hard to find a pro club behind because you are not going to seem like a reliable person. People put a label on you right away and that’s it. After all, the only person I can be mad at is myself.

In Europe, nobody wanted to hire me so I had to go and work in a clothing store. It was in Phoenix and called Nordstorm Rack. I was living with my grandmother and she told me that I wasn’t going to sit at her house and do nothing, so I had to find a job. All I did in my days was to fold and put away clothes and put shoes on the shelves.

I woke up at 7a.m., put on a suit to go sell clothes and shoes for $7 per hour. 

At the same time, as soon as I was done with my day’s work, I went straight to training and stayed there for 3 – 4 hours. I knew I was going to land a contract somewhere, I just didn’t know when or where. I knew there would be bumps in the road but I still spent over eight months waiting.

The cousin of one of my coaches was working with the Indian championship. That was how I ended up in India. In fact, I had the choice between continuing to fold clothes or going to play basketball. Even if it’s in India. It’s a very poor country, but we stayed in five-stars hotels all the time. I have seen both sides of India. I learned a lot about life there: it allowed me to be more grateful because the people there simply have nothing at all. There are days when they don’t have electricity or hot water.
 

Considering basketball, it was a weak championship but they were trying to do things well. The quality of videos were excellent. They had also brought a floor directly from the NBA. We were ten Americans there, all from Phoenix. At least, I was paid to play basketball! What more? Better than the clothing store, by the way $6.000 in two months.

Then I was supposed to play for the London Lightning, the best club in Canada, but I was got cut on the last day of training camp. Not because I wasn’t good enough, but because a player had left to try his luck with the Austin Spurs in the G-league, while having a clause in his contract stating that he would return to the team if he did not pass the test there. He came back. But the coach used his contacts to get me a job in Europe. That’s how I ended up in Luxembourg for six months. And not even in the first division, in the second! I walked on everyone, dominated in the league. It was fun but I also knew the level was extremely low so it was a bittersweet feeling. But the most important, I had set foot in Europe.

But yes, starting in India and then continuing with the Luxembourg second division, I was very far from the top level. But there was never any discouragement. A year ago, I spent my weeks folding and putting away clothes. I was just happy to be paid to play basketball, to have some money in my pocket to buy things for my mother and my grandmother. I was not thinking about where I was. I knew where I wanted to go.
 

Then it was Switzerland – a great step forward compared to Luxembourg. The level of the championship was correct, without being very high. I love Switzerland, it’s my favourite country. OK, it’s not very big but it seems so huge when you leave Luxemburg. I took so much pleasure travelling and discovering how beautiful this country is. I thought to myself that I had never seen anything like this in my life and that I did not know how far I could go if I did things right. In terms of basketball, it was not bad. Geneva and Fribourg dominate the Swiss championship. When you are not in these two clubs, it’s a little more complicated to prove yourself, but we surprised everyone with Vevey.

In Aix-Maurienne (second French division), I was taught to be more professional. There were a lot of experienced players, who gave me a lot of good advice. What people don’t understand is that 50% of a pro’s job is on the court and 50% off it. In public, you have to behave like professional, behave in the right way, talk to people in a certain way. That, I understood in Aix.

To be selected for the All-Star Game at the end of my sixth professional season is something big. This somewhat crowns all the work I have undertaken over the years. Being able to be associated with All-Star status means a lot to me. Only the moment was when my mother came to hand me my participant’s shirt was more important. One of the best moments of my life.

My evolution is the proof of my work. If you work seriously, it will always show up at some point. It’s something I have had in my head for a long time, I have known for ages that I could do it. I continue to look ahead, to project myself into the future. I still have work ahead of me for several years. Like everyone else, I am thinking of the NBA or the EuroLeague. I want to go as high as possible. I am not ready to be finished; my story is far from over. But now, I am really proud of myself."