Mario Matasović

After realizing that his dream was to play professional basketball, Mario Matasović packed his bag and went off to the United States to help make his dream come true while also getting an education. From military school, to a successful Division I college in Michigan, to another DI college near NYC’s hustle and bustle, Mario talks about his decision-making along the way and how his journey has helped him fulfill his dream of playing professional basketball. Read on to learn about our conversation with this Croatian professional basketball player who chose the route of U.S. college basketball to advance in his game.

Please tell us which part of Croatia you hail from and which sport you play.

I was born and raised in Slavonski Brod, a small town in eastern Croatia. Growing up I played a lot of soccer, and a little bit of handball until I started playing basketball at 14-15 years old. I was one of the tallest kids, so it came pretty natural to me and I stuck with it. I got spotted and started playing for the club team in Slavonski Brod which turned out to be lucky because they were playing in the top league at the time. I had the chance to play with older guys, great coaches and use good facilities which all gave me more exposure to the basketball ecosystem.

Tell us a little about your experience playing on the Croatian youth national team.

I played on the U-18 national team the year before I went to the United States. At the time I was playing a tournament in China with my club team and when I arrived back to Croatia I received a call about playing for the national team. I was with the youth national team for two months, traveling to different tournaments in France, Spain, and we even went all the way to Los Angeles. This was my first time traveling to the U.S. and it was a great experience overall.

Tell us how you eventually came to the idea that college in the U.S. would be the best option for you.

Once I completed high school in Croatia, I was faced with making a decision to either pursue a professional basketball career at the age of 18-19 years, or to choose the academic route and attend college. In Croatia, it is almost impossible to do both and at that age I wasn’t ready to decide on just one or the other. I was still young and wanted to do both so becoming a college athlete in the U.S. seemed like the perfect option.

Talk a little about how you began your college recruitment process and what that looked like.

While in high school I played with someone who had played college basketball in the United States and he threw out the idea that it would be a good opportunity for me to go to the U.S. for college. I thought this sounded like a great idea but I didn't know anything about it nor did I know anyone else with whom I could connect but luckily he put me in touch with some coaches in the US. I started talking to them, but honestly didn't expect anything to come out of it because I was just a kid from a small town that no one knew about. One day I received a message that they found a school for me and I actually ended up at a military prep school in Wisconsin - St. John's Northwestern Military Academy - with a full scholarship. I was there for one year and was given exposure to college coaches while playing there. Our school team played in many different tournaments with hundreds of college coaches in attendance. The coaches came from all three collegiate divisions from around the whole country to watch us play and scout for their colleges. In the spring when the recruitment process began I received a number of letters of interest from colleges and luckily a few offers as well. Among them, Western Michigan University was the best option for me at the time so I accepted their scholarship offer and a spot on their roster.

You mentioned that you graduated from Sacred Heart University, when did you transfer from Western Michigan University? Why did you make the move?

I played at Western Michigan University in Kalamazoo, Michigan for my first two years. In U.S. college basketball, playing time depends on hierarchy with senior guys playing more minutes and younger guys playing less. The younger players need to earn their minutes over the senior players. In my first year I played the typical "freshman minutes" (meaning not as much playing time as I would have liked) and then during my second year I played more but wasn’t completely happy towards the end of the season. I was very ambitious and wanted to play as much as possible. Also, during the off season the team signed a couple of new players who played my same position and I concluded that the direction in which this was going wasn’t what I wanted for myself. My ultimate goal was to play professional basketball and by the time I was in my junior (third) year I figured I needed to be on the court more, being seen and creating stats. There were a couple of schools that I was in contact with when one day Sacred Heart University called with an offer to play and since I already had a friend there I decided to transfer. Because both Western Michigan and Sacred Heart are Division I schools I had to redshirt my first year, and then played for two more years. Redshirting is a rule that gives players an extra year of eligibility. Ultimately, I was happy that I played four years of college basketball at Division I schools. I also earned a college degree at the same time. While at Western Michigan I studied electrical engineering, and since Sacred Heart does not have an engineering school I switched my major to computer science and graduated with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Computer Science.

What was your experience with transferring from a school in the Midwest to a school on the East Coast?

It was a huge change switching schools because Western Michigan is a big school with around 30,000 students and the style of life is definitely more laid back, everything is slow, just as you would imagine in rural America. Sacred Heart is a smaller school with around 7,000 students and a small campus in Fairfield, Connecticut, which is about an hour’s drive northeast from New York City. Life there is much faster and more similar to city life. During my first couple of months I felt like I was rushing everywhere; I was always in a hurry and there was traffic everywhere. It felt like everything was moving at a greater speed. But you adjust to it after some time and get used to the new tempo.

Did the colleges you attended support you and help you get accustomed to the culture and life in a new country?

Yes! I had a full scholarship everywhere I went and I was in the States for six years total. I can tell you that I didn't pay one cent for my education and this financial aspect was the most important to start with. Of course when I came to the prep school in Wisconsin it was a huge adjustment, it was my first year in America and it was a military academy so I have a million different stories about that time. From waking up at 5am everyday, to the uniforms we had to wear, to all the formations we needed to learn. At the time no one really liked it there, but now looking back I'm glad I went there because it gave me a different perspective on life and I got to experience things that I would have never had a chance to experience anywhere else. The coaches were very supportive as well as everyone else I had contact with. I knew English before arriving but I had to become more proficient in the language in order to get good grades in my classes and achieve good SAT scores for entry into college (the SAT is a standardized test used for college admissions in the U.S.). Attending college at both Western Michigan and Sacred Heart was a lot easier in comparison because there was more freedom and there is an army of people standing behind you and supporting you as a student athlete. There are six or seven coaches for your team as well as various trainers and coordinators. Student athletes have study hall if they need help with academics as well as academic advisors dedicated to athletes so that they can master the class schedules, team practice, and all the traveling. They help with all of that and the athletes feel very supported. Everything you might need you have at your disposal. If you are struggling academically or on the court you have so many resources to help you, there are many people whose job it is to help you succeed. Besides academics and basketball I also had the chance to embrace the culture. For example, I had the opportunity to go to a New York Knicks game at Madison Square Garden, the most famous arena in the world, and we enjoyed an evening in the VIP lounge. For any college student and especially myself coming from a small country, it was an incredible experience.

It must have been an adjustment to be so far from home. How were your family and friends able to help you during this time?

I was lucky to have some family members and friends visit during my time in the US. My brother and his wife came for a couple of weeks, a few of my cousins and best friends came too which was nice, but sadly my parents were not able to make the trip. My mom is a crazy sports fanatic so she watched most of our games at around 2-3 o'clock in the morning Croatian time. She would always stay up and watch the game until 5-6 o’clock in the morning and then go to work. She would go to work either happy that I had played a good game and we won or upset that I hadn’t played well or we lost. She would watch everything missing maybe only two or three games in all my six years. It is the same now with my team in Iceland. With the smaller time difference and technology now it is easier to watch games and if not that, they follow the live stats.

Do you think your U.S. college experience (both athletically and academically) helped you get to where you are today?

Yes, of course! I embarked on this journey to earn a college degree while still playing basketball and my ultimate goal was to play professional basketball. I am fortunate that my hard work has paid off and I am currently playing professional ball. I always have my degree in my back pocket for a future career when I retire from basketball (hopefully not any time soon). I am sure there will always be jobs in the field of computer science and so I look forward to that in the future.

You're now playing professionally in Iceland, what has that been like?

The summer after I graduated from college I signed with Njardvik in Iceland. At first I thought I'd be here one year but then I signed a contract for another year and now I am actually here for my third year. It is a good situation for me and I'm happy here, this is a good club that takes care of its players. The club is located in Njardvik which is about half an hour outside of Reykjavik, the capital,and I am a few minutes away from the only international airport in Iceland. The country has been fun and there are great people here. Last year around this time we were seven months into the season and then the season was cancelled because of the COVID-19 pandemic. We did not play in the playoffs or get a chance to play for the championship and there is still a lot of uncertainty right now about the future.

Do you continue to have contact with your former college teammates, friends, coaches, etc. and how is your relationship with them? Has this network helped you frame your plans for your future?

Yes, to me that aspect is even more important than anything else. I spent six years in the U.S. and during that time I met so many people that I normally wouldn't have had the opportunity to meet. Through basketball and being in college you build so many relationships with your teammates, your coaches, fellow students, everyone. Even now I have friends that I haven't seen in a couple of years being on this side of the world, but with current technology, social media and everything, we have group chats and we keep in touch everyday. I even talk to my old coaches a lot. I have group chats with my roommates and find it crazy that we haven't seen each other since college, but we still connect everyday. I have played against some of my former teammates a couple of times and we talk about how it's such a small world. A couple of them play in Iceland too and you always run into someone, it's crazy how life works. I believe that building these relationships was a huge benefit of my journey so far and I am sure they will last a lifetime. Now I have friends half way around the world who want to visit Croatia and invite me to visit them. It is never ending and it's amazing. I have been back to the States since I graduated to visit friends and some of my old teammates who are are still in college. I went to visit them in Chicago, New Jersey, New York, and other places. I look forward to traveling again when the virus situation gets under control.

Do you have any tips for young athletes from Croatia looking to go to college in the U.S. to continue in their sport?

I remember when I decided to leave home to go to America there were only one or two guys I knew playing in the States, and I honestly didn’t have any real knowledge about what I was getting myself into. These days there are many students leaving Croatia for college in the States and a lot of them call me before they leave to ask for advice. I feel that when I was leaving some of the "problems" and things I was going through seemed super big. Now when people call me concerned with the SAT and other things I realize that they are not such big concerns and they don’t need to worry too much about it. Since I have experienced it myself everything now seems super easy. I tell them to just go out there and enjoy every second of it because it goes by really fast. I remember when I was in the midst of it I always thought there would be next year. As a sophomore I thought I would try or do things next year, then as a junior the same thing, and then once senior year came there was no more next year, so I felt that I wanted to squeeze everything into this one last year. I would tell folks to try and use everything you have at your disposal. Every school team has a lot of coaches, you have access to the best equipment, strength coaches, medical personnel, and academic advisors, you have everything set up for you to succeed in every area on and off the court. Be sure to use it as much as you can.

Finally, would you share with us your favorite sport as a spectator and who is your favorite athlete?

I would say one of my favorite sports to watch is soccer, it's always great to watch a good Champions League match. I really enjoy watching Real Madrid or Arsenal. But outside the Champions League I am a big Dinamo Zagreb fan since I was born in Zagreb. Every sport has its best top athletes, and for basketball I would go with LeBron James. I've been following him on and off the court since I've been a kid.

Thank you Mario, for speaking with us and sharing your experience. We wish you all the best with your current team and look forward to watching you further your professional career. We are sure your story will inspire other young Croatian athletes to step out of their comfort zone and give it their best try to make their dreams come true.