Before Carter Coleman traveled to Taiwan, his parents wanted to see whether he could find it on a map. The 17-year-old, 2.03m-tall American basketball prospect knew it was in Asia, but admitted he only got “close.”
Later, on a flight to Taiwan, Coleman found himself contemplating something more consequential than geography.
“I’m really about to go represent a country,” he said in an interview with the Central News Agency in New Taipei City on Saturday.
Photo: CNA
Born to a Taiwanese mother, Charmei Coleman, who moved to the US at age 10, Coleman is making his first visit to Taiwan to train with the under-18 national team.
The team is preparing for the FIBA U18 Asia Cup in Ahmedabad, India, from Thursday next week to Aug. 23.
“It was definitely a new opportunity, and I wanted to represent a country because that’s not an everyday thing,” Carter Coleman said. “That’s a pretty big deal.”
His mother told him little about Taiwan.
“It was her birthplace, and she was little when she moved away, so I didn’t really hear much,” he said.
His opportunity to represent Taiwan emerged earlier this year, when a scout who focuses on overseas Taiwanese players contacted him about his Taiwanese heritage.
Much of the process was initially handled by his parents, leaving him uncertain how far the initial contact might lead, Carter Coleman said.
The family later drove from Oklahoma to the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Houston to complete the paperwork, a journey that took about seven hours with stops, he said.
His mother gave him the Chinese name Chen Ka-te, combining her maiden name with a transliteration of Carter.
“I didn’t know I could get a new name,” he said, adding that he had tried several times, with little success, to write the characters.
Carter Coleman has practiced with the Taiwanese squad for about a week, and although he sometimes needs instructions to be repeated in English, basketball has helped bridge the language gap.
“When we’re on the floor, it’s pretty easy to know what is right and what is wrong, because we’re playing basketball,” he said.
He has also found that Taiwanese basketball is faster paced than the game he is accustomed to in the US, with players looking to push the ball up the court more frequently.
Although his immediate focus is on the national team, he has his eyes on the future.
A student at Oklahoma Christian Academy who expects to graduate in 2028, Carter Coleman was given a scout grade of 83 and a four-star rating in June by ESPN. That left him ranked 17th at his position nationally, 15th in his region and fourth in Oklahoma among high-school level players.
“I jumped out of my chair,” he said. “Obviously, I want to be a five-star, but when I first saw that, I was filled with joy and really excited because everything I’ve been working hard for is finally getting noticed.”
He described himself as a three-level scorer capable of attacking the basket, pulling up from midrange and shooting three-pointers. With Taiwan, he has played as a shooter and screener who can also create opportunities for teammates.
He models his game on Kevin Durant, but his interest in basketball began by watching his older brother, Campbell Coleman.
His brother watches his games, offers advice and helps manage his social media. Carter Coleman usually wears No. 14 because it was his brother’s number.
“When I’m on the court, I think basketball is my personality,” Carter Coleman said, describing himself as focused and serious during games, but relaxed and talkative away from them.
His immediate objective with Taiwan is straightforward.
“My goal is to win,” he said. “I think with this squad, the group of guys we have, I think we can go win it.”
It is not only Carter Coleman’s first visit to Taiwan, but his first to anywhere in Asia.
Among his strongest early impressions have been how clean the streets are compared with those in the US and a sense of safety in Taiwan, he said.
He said he plans to begin learning Mandarin and hopes to return to Taiwan next year.
He wants to reach the NBA, although he said playing professionally overseas after college is also an option, but for now, his focus is on Taiwan.
“I just got to represent and show what I can do,” he said.
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