Saints freshman forward adjusts to life in the states

By Nicole Goyette

“Ninety percent of the food here I couldn’t even stomach!” said Australian native Adam Dixon about American food.

His first meal in America was a bowl of cereal, which he thought tasted like a bowl of sugar.

Dixon is a freshman on the Flagler basketball team and comes from Victoria, Australia.

“I live at the foothills of Mount Dandenong. Just out the back of my house is a large area of bush land,” Dixon said.

As a child, Dixon enjoyed exploring the wildlife with his younger brother, Scott. Dixon grew up around animals like kangaroos, kookaburras and echidnas, which can be seen during the day; and at nightfall, wombats and koalas.

“I owned several spiders, scorpions, a blue tongue lizard, lots of skinks and I was always running around in the garden with my brother looking for things to catch,” he said.

Dixon heard about Flagler from a former coach who informed him of the college scholarship opportunity in America.

“We started sending game tapes over to schools all over,” Dixon said. He was recruited for this season.

“He’s done a good job making the adjustment from Australia,” said men’s basketball Coach Bo Clark.

In Australia, Dixon played for the Sherbrooke Suns of the Big V Basketball League. He averaged 26.8 points per game and 7.1 rebounds per game.

“He’s a pleasure to coach and really fits in well with the teammates,” Clark said. “He’s going to make a great four year player for us.”

He enjoys living on campus.”It’s good for me to be living in the dorms so I can experience the American college lifestyle I guess, and it’s fun staying near all my mates, ’cause there’s always something going on,” Dixon said.

The Australian party scene differs in many ways in comparison to St. Augustine.

“I really miss going out clubbin’ with all my mates,” Dixon said. “The music is completely different to what gets played at parties over here … I’m definitely gonna miss Boxing Day.”

Boxing Day is an Australian national holiday the day after Christmas, and at Melbourne cricket grounds tickets sell out to a crowd of over 100,000 people in the sun drinking, yelling, “Aussie-Aussie-Aussie!” as beach balls and pool toys are thrown up in the air while patrons do the Mexican wave. “It’s so much fun,” Dixon said.

Dixon is unsure of his plans after graduation.

“That’s four years away so anything could happen between now and then,” he said, although he thinks he’ll stay close to home.

“I’m a bit of a homebody,” Dixon said.