From Serbia to Taiwan 塞爾維亞 → 臺灣
A closed plan.
An open door.
I became the first basketball player from the Balkans to play in Taiwan. It was never the destination I expected.
My original goal was the United States and NCAA basketball. I was preparing for that route when COVID arrived and recruiting, travel and opportunities closed almost overnight. The plan I had worked toward suddenly had nowhere to go.
Taiwan was the unexpected exception. A door opened in a part of the world I had never planned to call home, and I decided to walk through it. That choice became the best decision of my life.
I spent four years inside Taiwan's university basketball system, first at Chinese Culture University in Taipei and then at Vanung University in Taoyuan. I competed, studied Business Management, completed my degree and built a life inside a culture completely different from my own.
What began as a detour became experience, perspective and relationships that could never have been built from a distance. Eastbound Hoops exists to turn that first-hand knowledge into a clearer route for the next player.
