Kyrylo "Fess" Fesenko of the Utah Jazz came to the Evanston Rec Center July 30 to conduct the annual Junior Jazz Youth Basketball Clinic. The 7-1 Jazz center and Jazz youth program coordinator Nate Martinez instructed the young clinic participants on many facets of the game, and Fess signed autographs and posed for photos at the end of the clinic. Fesenko also delighted the kids by showing off his dunking skills. HERALD PHOTOS/Steve Kodad

Local youth in attendance Wednesday evening, July 30, got a “big” surprise when the Utah Jazz rep walked into the Evanston Recreation Center.

The Salt Lake City NBA team sends a player out to conduct youth basketball clinics around the region each year. The clinics are part of the annual Junior Jazz Basketball Program.

Evanston’s young clinic participants looked up Wednesday to see Kyrylo Fesenko (pronounced Kuh-rill’ Feh-sink’-o), Utah’s 7-foot, 1-inch, backup center.

The 21-year-old Fesenko and Jazz youth program coordinator Nate Martinez came to Evanston to conduct the clinic. Fesenko and Martinez worked with the local kids on basketball fundamentals, including dribbling, passing and shooting, during the 90-minute session at the Rec Center gym.

The huge Jazz center delighted the youngsters at the end of the clinic when he easily slammed down several dunk shots, including a two-handed spinning, back-to-the-rim slam.

Fesenko also answered questions, signed autographs and posed for photos with the clinic participants.

Fess, as he is more commonly known to Jazz teammates and friends, was born in the Ukraine (part of the former Soviet Union). Fesenko spent all of his young life in his native country before coming to the U.S. last year after being drafted into the NBA by Utah.



Pro player at age 15

Fesenko said he started playing professional basketball in the Ukraine at age 15. Fess turned in a strong performance during the 2006-07 season playing for Cherkaski Mavpi (Cherkassy Monkeys) in the Ukranian SuperLeague. The Jazz drafted Fesenko one year ago.

Fesenko spent much of his first NBA experience last season playing for Utah’s NBA Developmental League team, the Utah Flash, based in Orem. He did see action in nine games for the Jazz, averaging just 1.6 points per game and 2.8 rebounds per contest in limited minutes.

The Jazz surely drafted Fesenko as a project, with hopes that he will grow into a strong NBA center in the future. Fess wants to hurry that future along. His expectations for the upcoming NBA season are to spend the entire year in Salt Lake City with the Jazz.

“I try to make the team. I hope that I will make the team. I will do everything I can,” he said. “I don’t have really good summer league. This way I stay here, I’ve been practicing. I want to be, in the training camp, like in my best shape.”

Despite living in the U.S. for about a year, Fesenko seems to have gained a serious grip on the English language. He speaks with a heavy Euro accent, but the kids involved in the clinic didn’t seem to have any problems understanding his instructions.



Sportsmanship

Sportsmanship was stressed during Fesenko’s presentation. He told the young clinic participants that a key to sportsmanship on the basketball court was respect – for yourself, your teammates and coaches, for the game itself, and respect for parents, family and friends.

Fesenko towered above the clinic participants. He said he enjoys participating in the youth program.

“I enjoy it a lot because it’s not hard for me,” Fess said. “They enjoy it, I hope (he turns to stare, with a fake menacing look, at a young clinic participant dribbling a basketball nearby).

“I’m 21, so I used to be like them. Like not so far away, not so long, not so... what is the word, not so long ago.”



NBA dreams as a kid

Basketball is becoming a global sport. Like youngsters in America, Fesenko said he dreamed of playing in the NBA during his younger days.

“Oh yeah, sure,” Fesenko said. “Everybody, I think every kid, that plays basketball one time will shoot it (buzzer-beating shot), he try to imagine. Sometimes like kids, I know that because I used to do that, you count in your mind, like, ‘Three, two, one, shot!’ Everybody of course, imagines themselves in the NBA, on the court, scoring the most important shot, like Jordan do against Utah.”



Never has driven a car

Fesenko lives in Salt Lake City. He doesn’t have a car or a driver’s license, and Fess said he has never tried to learn to drive.

“In Salt Lake I have a driver, but he became more than driver to me,” Fesenko said. “He became like my personal assistant. So he buy food, he buy everything for me, he fill my fridge. All the stuff, like, so I always have some food, like Caesar salad in the fridge, stuff like pasta that you just need to warm in the microwave.

“I don’t cook, but because of my personal assistant, I have nice food all the time.”

Fesenko was asked about his childhood in the Ukraine.

“I can’t say poor, but sometimes we have really, really bad moments,” he said. “When kids ask me how I grow so big, I honestly tell them that I eat everything that my mom cook for me because I don’t have option. If you don’t want that, you will be hungry.”

Fesenko said his mother was six foot tall, and his father stood 6-6. He has no siblings.

“I was selfish,” Fess said, with just a little hint of a smile.