PECOS Not many basketball players from West Texas can say they’ve made it to the professional level, whether it’s the National Basketball Association or overseas.
However, Andre Roman is one of the few who’s been able to play basketball in Europe since graduating from college.
The Pecos native just finished up his third year of playing professionally.
Although he’ll be spending most of his off-season in Dallas, he’ll be back in the Permian Basin in July to hold his fourth annual Pro Basketball Camp.
“That’s the highlight of my summer,” Roman said. “It’s one of my favorite things to do. I tell people basketball is what I do, but it’s not entirely who I am. More-so, I’m just a person who likes to give back and a person of faith. Now that I’ve gotten to where I am, I just want to inspire anybody. I want to inspire people to chase their dreams. It’s more than basketball. It’s about believing in yourself and working hard for something that you want.”
The camp will take place from 8 a.m.-noon July 10-11 at Reeves County Recreation Center in Pecos.
The camp is for ages 5-18.
Lunch will be provided as well as a camp shirt and prize giveaway.
The price is $65 per camper.
After graduating from Pecos High School in 2014, Roman played at the University of the Southwest for a couple of seasons before transferring to Arlington Baptist in 2017.
He helped Arlington Baptist win the national championship in 2018.
After earning his bachelor’s degree in business, Roman was drafted 26th overall in the Euro draft.
His professional career started in Moldova where he played for team called ‘Gloria” before being traded to B.A.M. (Basketball Academy of Moldova).
He finished up his recent season with the Gyumri (pronounced gim-ree) Falcons in the Armenian basketball league.
“Honestly, it’s been more than a unique thing,” he said. “It’s been a blessing just continuing to play the game. It’s great to get closer to playing on the bigger stages each year and just been a blessing to see another country as well and see new teammates. It’s crazy because everyone I meet, they all come from different places. It’s been a blessing overall. It may be in different countries but the goal is always to do the best that I can.”
Transitioning to the international style of basketball was a bit of an adjustment, but Roman said he’s gotten used to it now.
“It was a bit difficult but at the same time, it was just more physical,” Roman said. “That was the main change. The pace of the game, I played against good division one schools so I saw what it was like at a high level at the college level but I learned the international style was more physical.”
This past season was likely Roman’s last in Armenia. The 5 foot, 7-inch point guard said he plans on playing in Sweden for the Swedish Basketball League.
“As of now, it’s Sweden,” Roman said. “I’ve never been so I’m excited. I don’t know what team yet. I’ve been wanting to make my way to another market. I’ve wanted to play in South America as well but right now, I’m pushing for Europe.”
His agent is in the process of negotiating, he said.
Either way, he’s excited about the chance to play in a bigger league.
“I’m definitely excited about playing in Sweden,” Roman said. “It’s a bigger league, a bigger stage. I’m super excited about it. One thing I’ve learned about playing overseas is that they’re very serious about their sports. Their fans are very passionate as well.”
But he’ll never forget his short stay in Armenia.
“It was awesome,” Roman said. “The first thing I noticed when I got there was that Armenia has a lot of mountains, a lot of history. I was able to see a lot of cool things. I explored a lot. I ate a lot of traditional dishes. It was really cool but also really different.”
Roman is thankful to have the internet to be able to communicate with his family back in West Texas.
“Man, FaceTime is a great thing,” Roman said with a laugh.
Even with FaceTime, it’s been difficult at times for Roman, who lost his grandmother in September 2022.
“One of the hardest things that I encountered, which made me, for a minute, question my career, was when I was in a flight and learned that I lost my grandma. I couldn’t reply because I was in the middle of the flight even though I could receive messages. That was hard and it made me question if I wanted to do this because I was away from my family.”
Still, playing professionally overseas has been an amazing experience, he said.
“It’s just something that more than anything shows others that they can do it as well,” Roman said. “It’s been a goal of mine since I was a kid to play professionally. I vividly remember speaking to my friends and writing down our goals and what we wanted to be. For me, it was to always play professionally. For me to be able to play professionally, especially at 5-7, is great. A lot of people that I speak to, that’s what jumps out the most. For example, we had a camp in Kermit and some people said one of the things they could relate to was my height. They said I’m not too big or too small but I’m still doing it.”
For more information on Roman’s camp, go to https://andreroman.org/.
