For foreign exchange student athlete Paul Lecurieux-Lafayette, life has been a bit challenging coming to America.
“I just came here by myself and I knew nobody here,” said Lecurieux-Lafayette. “The first day I came here I didn’t know where I was about to stay so I had to find a place to stay, but the coaches helped me with that.”
Lecurieux-Lafayette was born in Paris, France, but says, “I was born in Paris, and right now I am living with my dad in south of France in a city called Marseille.”
Lecurieux-Lafayette has been a student at Bakersfield College for six months now and is an engineer major. He also plays forward for the BC men’s basketball team.
Lecurieux-Lafayette added that he has also found his classes to be challenging.
“I remember the classes were also difficult because of the language,” he said.
As far as the game of basketball goes, Lecurieux-Lafayette also played the game while living in France. Lecurieux-Lafayette played for the French club team, the Antibes Sharks.
“I was playing in the French championship for about four years right now and it is different in France because you are not playing for your school, but you are playing for a club.”
Lecurieux-Lafayette’s transition to the game in America has also been a bit of an uphill battle. “Sometimes [it’s hard] for me to adapt to the game. First because the language is different, but my teammates and coaches help me a lot with that.”
Besides the language barrier there’s also a certain way that Americans play the game of basketball that is different from the way the game is played in Europe.
“The game here is based more on athletic skill. Players are faster and stronger here,” he said.
For European players this can cause some friction because Europeans play a more fundamental and team-styled game.
Lecurieux-Lafayette commented on his time playing for the Renegades.
“Oh, I like it a lot because I think it’s great to be able to play for your school, for your college,” he said. “That’s something I never did, and I feel like there is a lot of support here. I am proud to be here at BC!”
On Feb. 15 in a home game loss against Glendale College, Lecurieux-Lafayette logged in 15 minutes for the Renegades, contributing two points on 1-of-3 shooting, he grabbed three rebounds and blocked three shots.
Lecurieux-Lafayette has averaging 1.1 points per game, 1.7 rebounds per game, has a field goal percentage of 58.8 and is shooting 50 percent from the free-throw line.
Being his first season at BC he says he takes it as an adaptation and he also feels that he has given it his all.
He believes that the future is bright for the Renegades considering that they are still a young team and he sees improvement in everyone.