It’s all one world when seen through basketball hoop

Willard Johnson hails from the US but spent two seasons at the Rollers before travelling the world

JM: Tell us about your basketball journey?

WJ: I started playing college ball for MIT. I would walk through hallways surrounded with chemistry labs and math equations on the wall (and by a lot of people who were a lot smarter than me). My journey has taken me all around.

JM: You’re now in Tibet; what’s that like?

WJ: Tibet is a crazy place; one player was late to practice because his sheep went missing (he’s a nomadic herder). We don’t have athletic trainers but we have a local bone setter in the village. He fixed one of our player’s fingers during a game.

JM: I hear there is also a funny story about a monk?

WJ: One time a monk jumped so high and was so strong he grabbed the rim then broke the backboard (the monks love hoops). A very revered lama (one of the highest reincarnations in Tibet, almost considered a god) threw me an alley oop pass off the backboard for a dunk. He’s currently a teenager and loves sports. Our team once played a game of H.O.R.S.E ... on horses.

JM: What are your memories of Gold Coast basketball?

WJ: On my way back from the Gold Coast basketball office, my first time seeing all of the bats fill the sky coming from the hills to the beach I thought the world was coming to an end. I also woke up in the middle of the night with a huge spider on the wall and thought my life was coming to an end.

JM: You have played in so many other countries; what were they like?

WJ: What I remember most was the scenery going to practices. In Costa Rica it was always a beautiful ride on the public bus for 2½ hours through rainforests. In Iceland it was always a cold ride to practice in a small European car through the snow. In Africa I would hop on the back of a truck to practice every day ... seeing beautiful scenery but also very real poverty.

JM: What is your basketball philosophy?

WJ: Basketball has such a special power of connecting people ... I’ve been so lucky to have basketball be that connection with all of these great people and cultures from around the world.