ONE-ON-ONE Interview: London United's Tarick Johnson

LONDON United’s Tarick Johnson will be picking up February’s Player of the Month trophy next weekend. Jasper Wenban-Smith visited the American-born star of Hackney’s only basketball team to find out what makes him tick.

What would you be now if you weren’t a basketballer?

"Well, I’ve got a degree in Business Administration so I would probably be a CEO. In fact, I’m still planning on doing that when my days of playing basketball are over."

What would you describe as your career high?

"To me, life is as good as it gets right now. The way I see it, I wake up in the morning and I’m doing something I love. If I wasn’t getting paid for it, I’d be playing anyway. It’s just a blessing. Every day is a high for me."

What advice would you give to young people in the UK looking to get involved in the sport?

"Just be around positive people and stay away from the drugs. Just believe in yourself. You have these critical people out there that are negative, saying ‘you cant do this’ or ‘you can’t do that’ but I believe kids can do whatever they want as long as they put their minds to it."

If you could change one thing about yourself what would it be?

"Nothing. God wanted Tarick Johnson to be Tarik Johnson this way. God meant for me to be six foot four and 194 pounds. I ain’t complaining with it. All I can do is keep Him first and lessons will keep coming my way. As far as changing anything about myself goes, nothing at all."

Who is your basketball hero?

"Michael Jordan – I respect him more than any other athlete. He was in a league of his own and was everything you could want in a basketball player. And the paved the way for so many people and touched a lot of kids out there. So as far as a basketball hero goes, he would probably have to be the closest. But my real hero, man, is my mom."

What do you think of the standard of basketball over here?

"It has a lot of potential. It has the potential to be a great league. Once the league starts getting extremely competitive people are going to start wanting to play here, especially with the 2012 Olympics coming up."

What do you miss about the States?

"I miss my family. My mom, my little brother, being at home, the food my mom cooks. The hardest thing is being away from home. But the culture here is similar to the states so it has been easy to adapt. Plus my dad was in the military and we were always travelling and England’s a real nice country, so it’s easy for me to adapt."

Did you always want to be basketball player?

"Well, American football was my first love but then I started playing basketball and that was it. My mom played basketball so I guess it sort of runs in the family. As soon as I started playing it, that was it – I didn’t want to waste my time, my mom’s time or the team I was playing on’s time, so that was it."

Tarick Johnson's Stats:

Weight: 194 pounds
Shoes Size: 12
Height: 6 ft 4 in
Position: Guard