Third Culture Adult, Basket ball star Erin Perperoglou’s Culturally Fluid Adventure

Basketball star Erin Buescher Perperoglou was an all- American kid who grew up to lead a culturally fluid life.

By Alexa Vujaklija

Sports fans might be tempted to view Erin Buescher Perperoglou as a collection of impressive stats: During more than 2,500 minutes in 150 WNBA games, including nine playoff games, Perperoglou scored nearly 900 career points and accumulated 500 rebounds.

But off the court, Perperoglou is a globe-trotting multilingual media personality and burgeoning entrepreneur who delights in intercultural connection. She’s also the mother of three Third Culture Kids whose family has lived in Greece, Turkey, Spain, Israel and Serbia.

BASKETBALL BECKONS

Born and raised in San Francisco, Calif., Perperoglou was an average girl who loved basketball and surfing. She began traveling as a college athlete and then later as a professional basketball player.

“As a child, I didn’t want to travel,” she says. “I loved my home, and I was very much a homebody… I loved America.”

Then, at age 22, after a successful college basketball career, Perperoglou visited Costa Rica during a family vacation. She fell in love with the country, seduced by a carefree lifestyle in which days were spent surfing and exploring the rainforest. She became fluent in Spanish, and stayed long enough to be considered a local.

“Costa Rica was a dream. It became my home,” she says. “I don’t know why or how, but they really accepted me into their culture; into their world.”

She continued to play basketball and traveled during the off-season. She planned to build a house in Costa Rica. She purchased land and had it cleared. A devout Christian, she dreamt of building a place there to support impoverished and underprivileged girls.

Then, Perperoglou received a phone call that changed her life.

APHRODITE TAKES HOLD

She was invited to play basketball in Greece for two months. She hesitated, feeling tethered to her dream of making an impact in Costa Rica.

“Surfing was my passion. I was a hippie in the middle of a jock world, and I felt suffocated by traditional sports,” she says.

“I didn’t even like basketball, even though I was really good at it.”

She begrudgingly accepted an offer to play basketball in Athens. To her surprise, she became enamored of Greece, its people and its culture. She also met the love of her life, Stratos Perperoglou, a fellow baller.

“We played for the same team,” she recalls. “I remember the first time I saw him on the court. I loved his humility. He was very quiet, shy, and hardworking.”

‘HOME IS A PERSON’

Perperoglou eventually sold her land in Costa Rica and returned to Greece to marry. She retired from basketball after eight seasons in the WNBA, which included a couple of very serious injuries. After basketball, she dabbled in broadcasting and column writing. She also continued to root for her husband, who now plays basketball for the Spanish ACB League team FC Barcelona.

“I thought Costa Rica was my home,” she says. “But I realized that home is not a place. When two souls connect, home becomes a person.”

This is part one in a series. In part two, Perperoglous shares pearls of wisdom gleaned from running a multicultural household, raising three Third Culture Kids, and doing it all as a Global nomad.

www.CultursMag.com | Spring 2019 95