“If the whole team remains healthy and all the players recover Dynamo will be one of the best teams of Super-league,” says Lamar Karim the American basketball player of Dynamo.
It cannot be said with one glance but Lamar karim is 29. Depending on statistics he is one of the leaders of Georgian Super-league. He plays for dynamo till May, his contract exhausts in May and he wants to get back to home-town. He says that nothing compares to home. Also much more reasonable for him to go is that he is too far from his family. He has wife they have been married for 3 years. It will be the third anniversary of their marriage and the birthday of Karim himself on the 3rd of June. He got married on his own birthday. Nowadays couple are waiting for a baby for any day now, that’s why he went home on 22th December. “When I arrive and I speak to the stomach I think she will hear me come, it is a baby-girl I just want a healthy and smart baby. As long as my baby is healthy I will be happy”- says Karim.
He has also mother, step-father, three brothers and one sister in US. The only way to have a frequent contact with them is Skype, so he spends a lot of hours at computer. This helps him and has no stress because of the distance with his family. He also watches NBA game videos on internet.
Lamar Karim is from Atlanta, Georgia. In childhood he has traveled all over US, he has lived in Chicago, when he was 14 went to Philadelphia, but still calls Atlanta his home. After graduating Campbell high-school he entered the collage. He’s a graduate of two universities, first is division two GCSU (Georgian collage and state university), the second one was SPSU (Southern poly technique state university).
Karim has been playing basketball since he was 8. “I was terrible! I was very bad player. Then I all trained and got the results you see,” said Karim with the laughter. His first professional game gets started since 2005. First team was semi professional South Carolina Heat team, after it he played in Denver/Colorado, team named Aurora. “I went all the way to the south and all the way to the west. I love to travel, that’s my favorite thing to do and I’ve traveled a lot,” - says he.
After these years he played in many different countries as France, Cyprus. Also two seasons in Ukraine so he has already get used to the fact that every county has its culture and traditions. He says that knowing of Ukraine gave him a basic knowledge about Georgia too, because both are eastern European countries. But Georgia was not unknown for him many times before he traveled here, thanks to Zaza Pachulia. Karim watches NBA games and have seen Georgian Pachulia playing in NBA, at first he was a bit confused why didn’t he knew that American basketball player who was even from the same state as he, then he Googled and found out that Georgia is a country. So when it came time for him to come to Georgia he already knew that it was even on the different continent. He’s also familiar with Tskitishvili, likes him as personally as well as a good player.
“My agent has a good relationship with “Dynamo” club and I got here. “Dynamo” said that they needed a play maker that was great. Vato Natsvlishvili our club president really loved my style of playing, so I came here and the Sokhumi coach helped also he is also with my agency,” answered Karim on the question about how did he got in “Dynamo”.
About Georgia he says that likes to be here, likes that people are very nice to him, they talk and walk with him. They are friendly. Karim goes to clubs after the games, in general the clubbing day is Saturday only if Dynamo wins, if they lose he’s not in a mood of entertaining. “I have some really awesome team-mates, nice guys. We go to the club and have a fun, drink and dance, do what normal people, what everybody normally does”- he says. But he does not get mad about clubs, does not care what kind of club it is, he makes his own fun there and thinks that much better to have some fun at home drinking a bit of champagne and a with good company. He does not like to drink before going to club, because says that drunk people sometimes act crazy and he as a professional must be more carefully not to get in complicated situations.
Favorite drink is apple juice. He loves whisky, but prefers beer after the game, says that it’s better for fresh up then other alcohol is.
Many people may think that foreign clubs have more strict rules for players and their entertainment style, but Karim said: “The rules of a club are not different from other foreign country club rules, you cannot do crazy things here you can’t do crazy things there.”
Karim thinks that in Super-league the competitors for Dynamo are Armia on a first place, then MIA Academy and “Olympy” as well.
He likes his team not only because he plays there, also because of the history of the team. Thinks that if everything goes well and all the players will get better they may even get to the final and win the challenge. He also named his favorite players and good friends, which are Curtis Millage (Armia), Marcus Faison (Armia), Lasha Pargalava (Armia) and Lamayne Wilson (Armia).
In his team thinks that Soso Lejava and Milan Oluic are good partners for making a good game. He doesn’t think to stay one more season in Georgia. Says that likes the team, team-mates, administration and people, but still wants back to home. If the contract is much better for the next season he might think to stay. Therefore he has no offers from NBA clubs, so there is thing to think of.
Karim looks after food ration very accurately and thinks that it has a big influence on health. He prefers a healthy products loves Turkey, fish and vegetables. He has tasted Georgian food too and liked Khinkali. One of the most popular Georgian meal khachapuri appeared less delicious for him then lobiani (Beans baked in dough).
At the end he wants to thank all of his compassionates and want to tell them that he respects them and their approach and promises them a good season.
Eka Lolua
