Starting forward plans to ‘stay in basketball’ after college

Peter Holland, Jr. // Asst. Sports Director

Balancing both basketball and being a graduate student, Michael Kessens still has the sport as a top priority after finishing his master’s program.

The men’s basketball starting forward is a University of Alabama transfer who decided to take advantage of his final year of eligibility to play basketball for FIU while being enrolled in a three-semester graduate program for sports management.

So far, the Switzerland native is enjoying every minute living in the warm climates and diversity in Miami.

“I love it. I love the community. It’s Florida International University and it has an international feel to it,” said Kessens. “The location, too. It’s hot, sunny and we have a great community here.”

Kessens is from the countryside of Nyon, Switzerland, just four and a half hours away from France.  According to the graduate student, his home country is not well known for popular attractions but provides a placid and suburban vibe that he calls home.

“It’s a beautiful country,” said Kessens. “From the people I know who been to the U.S., they take a week to travel around the country. It’s very well organized, and a little bit expensive.  It’s not like visiting a city like New York City, Paris, or London. It’s more chill, relaxed and you just enjoy your time there like family trips or something like that.”

Traveling is nothing new for the 6-foot-9, 228 pounder since that’s all he did when he was on the ‘French Under-20’ national team. Traveling all over Europe as an  amateur basketball player, it’s not surprising to know that Kessens can speak different languages. Kessens is trilingual, speaking French, German and English.

“It’s like going state to state in Florida and you go to a Georgia high school,” said Kessens.” The differences is with Europe when you go state to state in the U.S., you go country to country in Europe. And every country is different like different languages from most of the time, different cultures. It was awesome and I loved it.”

Kessens originally signed to play college basketball for Longwood University but transferred after his freshman year due to coaching changes. After sitting out for one season, he played for the Alabama Crimson Tide. His former  coach was long-time NBA player and head coach Avery Johnson. After playing two seasons and graduating with a business administration degree, Kessens decided to use his final year of eligibility to play at FIU.

Kessens says that his departure from Alabama will not affect the relationships that he had at the University.

“Coach Johnson is an awesome coach. He’s a player’s coach, meaning he’s been there and done that at the same level that we are at,” said Kessens. “We left on great terms and it wasn’t he who wanted me to leave or that I wanted to leave, it was just the best thing for both of us. We bonded and it was a bond for life.”

Now a graduate student, Kessens, who still wants to play basketball after college, wants to stay with the sport even if he has to hang up his jersey for good. After being asked what he wants to do after playing for FIU, Kessens says he wants to be a mentor for the up and coming basketball players.

“I want to stay in basketball,” said Kessens. “I want to play professionally, but I have been hurt and that gave me setbacks forcing me to open my eyes on other career plans. I want guys that are experiencing what I experienced.”

Kessens has a message to everyone who’s not only a student athlete, but a graduate student as well.

“Just commit yourself to whatever you’re doing,” said Kessens. “That’s basketball, that’s school, that’s work. If you’re not committed, you’re not going to get the best out of yourself. Just commit yourself and give 100 percent and believe in your abilities and make goals out of your dreams.”

The Panthers are on in the middle of a three game road trip; their next game will be on Dec. 4 against University of South Carolina at 2 p.m.

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