written by Augusta University student Jaylan Hayes
A lot of people travel long ways to go to college. But not everyone travels to different countries. Dublin, Ireland's own Maximillian "Max" Amadasun transferred to Augusta University last year from St. Bonaventure in New York.
Ever since Amadasun started playing basketball it was always the dream to come to America and luckily his family was nothing but supportive.
"I think they're overly supportive. They really want me to succeed over here, which is good though. They're always checking up on me, making sure that I'm doing well," said Amadasun.
He grew up in a family with two younger siblings that were what he said were the "complete opposite" of him. It made for some interesting times. But he has always been athletic.
"I was playing a lot of sports before basketball. I was doing martial arts, judo, and soccer. I was even playing my native game Gaelic football for a little bit," he said. "I was trying everything. I was a very athletic kid. But once I hit my growth spurt, it was only basketball."
That growth spurt around the age of 13 led him to be 6'9 even though he likes to say he's closer to 6'10". If he was a few inches shorter he said he would have loved to still be doing martial arts as his dad was big on judo.
Amadasun has spent most of his time in America in the northern states so coming down south was a welcome change for him.
"I love the heat. I mean, where I'm from in Ireland, we barely ever get heat. It's always cloudy and rainy. It's so bipolar over there. The heat is something I appreciate," he said.
A cultural shock for him besides the weather is the size of America. He is hoping to eventually travel to the west coast. But learning how to drive here might be his top priority.
"I'm trying to learn right now, I'm in the process of learning, but yeah, that's one problem that I haven't checked off my bucket list yet."
When he's not on the court Amadasun likes to spend his free time on his computer. He enjoys creating websites, coding, video games and anything creative. He believes he picked the perfect major of computer science.
With graduation in May, Amadasun knows his degree will help him go into software design. But first his plans consist of him playing pro basketball. While he would love to stay in America he also wouldn't mind being signed with a team in Europe or Asia.
"I'll be honest, I would be appreciative of anything," said Amadasun.
He did say if he was able to pick a team to play for, it would be to suit up for Real Madrid Baloncesto.
If you play the game long enough, there will always be a memorable moment, one of them happens to be on embarrassing side for Amadasun and it's on YouTube for everyone to see.
"It's me missing a wide-open dunk, and it was like in the garbage minutes, so I wasn't getting any playing time, and it was just a wide-open dunk. It goes from me missing this wide-open dunk and I turn to the bench, and you can see the whole bench dying laughing," he said.
While none of his current teammates have seen this video, he's sure they'll go looking for it now. But Amadasun has no shame about it anymore.
(Find it here, timestamp 6:40)
When it comes to who Amadasun is as a person, he's very positive and hopes he is leaving an impact on the people he meets. It doesn't matter whether it's leading by example or just being a positive role model.
"Just giving back is an ultimate goal of mine," he said.
Amadasun has been helping the new players on this year's team that share his position so they can adjust to the workouts and practices in preparation for the season. He is ready for his final season at AU and to see where this will end up taking him.
Men's basketball schedule
