He's still playing basketball, but sometimes it seems like Mark Zoller is playing soccer.
In a league that features relegation and promotion, a 10-month schedule with one game per week, a foreign language and chanting fans, the former Penn forward is far from his comfort zone.
Recently signed to Plasencia of the LEB Plata (Silver) division in Spain, Zoller has been in Europe for only five weeks, but he had to hit the ground running.
"I came a month into their preseason and was thrown into the games right away," he said.
Still, language is still the biggest barrier.
"Our practices are spoken in Spanish for the most part," Zoller said. "It's all the same basketball stuff, but it's just a little different to hear it in a different language."
Only about half the team speaks any sort of English, and none of the assistant coaches know Zoller's native tongue.
"I took Spanish at Penn, and it's helping me out, but it's a totally different thing here."
The other main thing to get used to was the atmosphere - including the drums played during the games.
According to former Quakers assistant coach Matt Langel, who has played in four different countries, the atmosphere in other countries can be crazy.
"Some places have super fans where they get 10,000 people at a game and they're blowing air horns and fire crackers and throwing coins at the opposition," he said.
"It's exciting to play in a different atmosphere," Zoller said. "It's definitely different than what I'm used to, just with the constant banging on drums. [It's like] soccer; fans are always in the stands chanting and hooting and hollering the whole time."
But despite all of the distractions, Zoller's game has translated well, with his ability to shoot from outside particularly helping his cause in Europe.
In the 76-75 season-opening win, he went 6-for-7 (including 3-for-3 on threes) for 15 points off the bench. In all, his 11 points, 54 percent shooting and 4.25 rebounds per game have earned him a starting role.
Langel, who gave Zoller advice about everything from travelling violations to how to watch American TV (buy a slingbox), is impressed by what Zoller has done so far.
"Mark was sitting around all summer anxious to go, and he gets a call and two days later he has to go," Langel said.
Zoller's dominance so early on is doubly important, given his precarious situation.
"Sometimes first-year players [from the team's standpoint] are a risk," Langel said. "Sometimes they're guys that haven't been out of their country and exposed to the European game . sometimes Americans are on a short leash.
"He's a tough kid, he plays hard, he's not a high-maintenance guy, all those things fit what some European teams are looking for."
Even though he's already developing as a leader of his Plasencia squad, Zoller has a long road to still climb.
At 4-0, if his team stays on top of the tables it will be promoted to LEB Oro. But Zoller, like most basketballers, signed a one-year contract. He will more than likely say adios to Plasencia this summer.
"I think a very difficult part of being a European professional is that you live on a 10-month basis," Langel said. "You don't know where you're going to be and how long you're going to be there."
Still, Zoller is more than happy in his new job.
"A lot of people are doing the 9-to-5, but I feel that I'm being paid to do something I love," he said. "That's the best part."
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