Standing at the free throw line in Izmir, Turkey, Roy Booker bounced the ball twice, looked up, and froze.

It was 2006, his first year away from America, and his first game as a professional basketball player.

Upon entering the arena, he had heard the drums and horns, saw the flags and the thousands of people packed into the stands. But it wasn’t until he attempted his first free throw that he saw the semi-automatic rifles.

Guns weren’t foreign to Booker after growing up in government housing in a 3,500-person town in Missouri, USA. Gang violence had taken several of his friends’ lives. But basketball stadiums had always been a safe house - an escape from the rest of life’s obstacles during high school, and at Kansas and South Missouri Universities.

However, basketball was a big deal in Izmir. The crowds made noise, backed their team religiously, and let off flares in the crowd, which meant it took more than a couple of volunteers or event staff to keep the peace. Lined up on each baseline stood 24 riot police. Booker’s eyes locked on the white helmets, the tinted face shields, and the AK47’s.

The referee blew his whistle, calling Booker for a five second violation. He handed the ball to the official, forfeiting his first free throw as a teammate looked over confused and agitated asking what was wrong.

Culture shock got the best of Booker that day, as it did often in his first professional basketball stint abroad. But he doesn’t suffer from homesickness like he used to. He no longer racks up two-thousand dollar phone bills, desperately trying to make up the distance to loved ones. He is a pro basketball star in every sense of the word.

For the past three SEABL seasons, the Canberra Gunners have game-prepped for Booker as he suited up in a Ballarat Miners uniform and wreaked havoc on the league. Over those three seasons, Booker averaged 28.6, 25, and 25.1 points per game on 47-percent shooting and 42-percent from three.

This season, Booker is leading SEABL in scoring – for Canberra – with 26.2 points per game.

He isolates defenders or runs them off ball screens, hitting them with hesitation dribbles and crossovers until he’s ready to strike. The stocky 191-centimeter combo guard knows every trick in the book. That’s what you get from playing 11 years of professional basketball across 23 different countries.

“He’s a flat out scorer,” says Gunners Coach, Shawn McEachin. “He has a very potent perimeter game, but he’s got the ability to mix it up and put the ball on the floor and create when shots are tough to find.”

But McEachin says Booker is more than just an asset on the court. The 33-year-old import coaches in Basketball ACT’s ‘8 and Under’ development program, coaches holiday camps, and shoots hoops with kids he sees at Belconnen Basketball Stadium.

“I always wanted a role model growing up and I didn’t have that,” says Booker. “So I always said when I get older, if I’m ever in a position where kids look up to me, I will always take time out for kids.”

Booker adds that while his gift has always been scoring the basketball, his biggest goal in Canberra is to mentor the young core of locals in the Gunners.

“We haven’t just invested in somebody to put points on the board for us,” says McEachin. “He’s got a very infectious personality, he’s very embracing and very accepting - he brings everybody in.”

This story was originally published by The Canberra Times and The Sydney Morning Herald.

More than just SEABL’s top scorer