Kahlig to play hoops in Spain

Greg Kahlig will get a chance to play basketball on the professional level and be able travel as well.

The Fort Recovery standout, who finished a stellar career at the University of Findlay this past season, signed over the weekend to play for Força Lleida CE in the Liga Española de Baloncesto Oro (LEB Oro), the second division of the Spanish basketball league. Lleida, which is in the Catalonia region of Spain, begins its third season in October.

"It's really neat to have this experience. From this area, you don't see a lot of it," Kahlig said on Tuesday afternoon. "It's pretty neat to be looked upon from the younger kids from Fort Recovery and hopefully the rest of the MAC to be a role model and let kids know if you work hard for your dreams, they can be accomplished. Thankfully, mine were."

Kahlig began to receive some interest about playing overseas after finishing his career at Findlay with 1,877 points and averaging 24.5 points per game during his senior season.

"After the season, some agents contacted coach Ernst (Findlay head coach Charlie Ernst)," said Kahlig, who heads to Spain on Saturday. "I got to talk to them and got to know them. I made the decision to go with an agent that lives in Spain. He knew a lot of the teams and GMs (general managers) and coaches because he had played over there for a while. He thought it would be good to get me into the second league in Spain. (Força Lleida) saw the (highlight) tapes and were impressed enough to offer me a contract."

Lleida has gone 11-15 in each of the first two years, making the league quarterfinals in 2013 and finishing 10th in the 14-team league last season. The top two teams each season are promoted to the top division of Liga ACB while the bottom two teams are relegated to third division LEB Plata (Silver).

The change in culture, as well as language, is a challenge that Kahlig is ready to embrace.

"Language is going to be a little difficult, but (the team) will have someone to help me, and my teammates will help me understand the culture more (as well as) the language.

"(It's a) little scary, but I'm excited for the opportunity to play over there."