Sept. 29, 2006
By Katie Stuhldreher
At the beginning of fall training in late August for Notre Dame’s men’s basketball team, sophomore forward Luke Zeller undoubtedly had the best summer vacation stories.
Zeller, a Washington, Ind., native, has rarely ventured outside his home state. But this past summer he found himself half way across the world singing the theme song to `Beauty and the Beast’ with other top college athletes.
There’s a first time for everything.
Zeller participated in a program called Athletes in Action, a Christian-based organization in Ohio that practices sports ministry and missionary work. Zeller and a team of other players from around the nation, including Texas A&M guard Josh Cater and former New Mexico starter Troy DeVries, traveled to Taiwan to compete in an international tournament – the 2006 William Jones Cup.
“I don’t know how the connection came up, but someone I knew before was associated with Athletes in Action and mentioned my name,” Zeller says. “I didn’t think I could do it, but after the season I asked [Irish head coach Mike Brey] about it and he said it’d be a good thing to look into. So I sent in an application, got accepted, and went from there.” Zeller and the U.S. team faced squads from Qatar, Korea, Kazakhstan, Japan, Australia, the Philippines, and Taiwan in the Jones Cup in Taipei City. The U.S. team, coached by Mike Jarvis, took home the gold medal with a record of 8-1, defeating Taiwan in the championship game. “I thought I played well. My performance was consistent over there. I just played and didn’t force anything,” he says.
Zeller stood out in the final game against the home team with nine points and 12 rebounds.
“The people there were huge basketball fans. It was a few blocks from our hotel to the gym, but it always took us half an hour to walk there because people in the streets wanted autographs and everything. The crowds at the games were great and picked their favorite teams as the weeks went on,” remarks Zeller.
The young Irish forward said the best part of the experience was getting to meet so many different people.
“We went out to eat with the other teams after we played them, so we went out with the Australian team, the team from Qatar, and Taipei. I still keep in touch with both our translators. They are really cool people to talk to about what’s going on. Both are huge basketball fans,” he comments.
Luke Zeller looks down on the countryside from the mountains of Taipei.
|
 |
Zeller says that in the few weeks he spent in Taiwan, the team crammed in an impressive amount of sightseeing in between games. “We saw the Chang Kai-Shek memorial and a hot springs area in the mountains. We were pretty busy. We played at night and did sightseeing in the morning, or vice versa. We had a pretty busy schedule,” Zeller says. The highlight of the trip for Zeller, however, was a visit to a center for mentally handicapped children in the mountains.
“We were the first Americans to ever go to this place. Going and being able to talk with these kids and seeing what an impact we can make was really cool,” Zeller says.
“Then we sang songs with them and they appreciated that. They tried to sing along even though they didn’t know the language. We tried to sing `Beauty and the Beast,’ but it didn’t go very well. Some of the guys knew the words, though.”
In keeping with the theme of the trip, Zeller said he and his teammates spent much of their time in prayer and Bible study.
“Our chaplain was the chaplain for the Miami Heat. He was really good at applying stuff to everyday life. He’s used to being around players and people who have been in our shoes. It really helped to have his perspective,” Zeller says.
In a particularly touching experience for the Indiana native, Zeller recounted a story about a member of the Kazakh team accepting the Christian faith.
“We had pizza with the Kazakh team on the night of the championship. We shared our experiences as Christians. One of the Kazakh players after that night decided to convert to Christianity because he was very interested in that,” he says.
Zeller said in his experience he not only learned about a foreign culture, but also deepened his own faith.
“For me, God is number one in my life and for me to be able to be around guys who share that belief was special for me. I played ball with these guys and knew that their hearts were in the same place as mine,” says Zeller.
Luke Zeller poses with a couple of young basketball fans in Taipei.
|
|
Although he said he is focused on the upcoming Irish basketball season, Zeller says someday he’d like to travel abroad again. “I’d love to go back sometime. I spoke at a Chinese-speaking church and the people were just awesome. They welcomed us with open arms and I appreciated their openness and generosity,” he remarks.
Zeller adds that although graduation is still a long way off, he might consider playing professional basketball abroad like former Irish stars Chris Thomas, Tom Timmermans, Torin Francis and Rick Cornett who currently play in European leagues.
“I’m looking at playing abroad after graduation as a possibility. I want to play basketball as long as I can. So, we’ll see,” he says. Zeller says he greatly valued the experience he had in Taiwan and the friendships he made on his team.
“I keep in touch with all my teammates and coaches there. When you play basketball together and travel and these are the guys you have beside you, you really get close,” he says.
His summer travels have enriched Zeller’s experience as a student-athlete at Notre Dame, as he now has new experiences to bring back to campus. “It’s great to be able to come back here with that experience, experiencing a different culture and playing at that level. I guess that makes me, as people say, a bit cultured,” Zeller says with a grin.