Impressing the Folks Back Home--Thousands of Miles Away : Division III: Jesper Sorensen, a foreign exchange student from Denmark, will try to give Fremont Washington a victory over Estancia.

The leading scorer for the Fremont Washington High School boys’ basketball team is thousands of miles from home, but you’d never know it by looking at him.

Jesper Sorensen, a 6-foot-8 center, is styling on the court with his Vanilla Ice hairdo that is blocked and shaved on the sides and stands on end on the top. He listens to rap music, wears the lastest clothes and, generally, has adapted easily to the California lifestyle.

A foreign exchange program has brought Sorensen from the Danish junior national team in Arhus, Denmark, to Washington, one of the oldest high schools in the state.

Sorensen, a junior, averages 8.9 points and eight rebounds a game for Washington, which is making its first appearance in the State championship in the school’s 100-year history. Fremont will play Estancia in the Division III title game at 11:30 a.m. Saturday in the Oakland Coliseum Arena.

“The best gift I could give to the school and my coach would be a State championship,” Sorensen said. “I’ve had such a great time going to school here, I’d like to give something back to the school.”

Sorensen applied with an exchange agency that places foreign students into California high schools. He began playing basketball eight years ago and had grown to 6 feet 3 by the time he was a freshman.

“I always wanted to come to California, and it’s been everything I expected,” he said. “The best thing is the weather. You can walk around in shorts even in the winter time.”

Sorensen had no problems adjusting to his new home. He called Washington Coach Quin Boggs the first day that he moved in with the Carry Scoane family and told the coach he wanted to try out for the basketball team.

“I made friends right away with the guys on the team,” Sorensen said. “When I first called the coach, I don’t know what he thought, but when he asked me what position I played and how tall I was, he was happy.

“I learned an awful lot about playing defense and being a team player under Coach Boggs. I would really like to win the State championship for my coach.”

Sorensen returned to Denmark for two weeks during winter vacation and told his friends back home that he was starting for Washington’s basketball team. It wasn’t exactly the reception Sorensen had anticipated.

“They figured if I was starting, then how good could the team be,” he said. “They think that in America, you have to be exceptional to start.”

Sorensen has played on Denmark’s junior national team for two years under Coach Rob Frederick of the United States. He said his goal is to play for his country’s national team and help it qualify for its first Olympic Games.

Sorensen has traveled extensively throughout Europe playing on the junior national team and has competed in the Scandinavian Games, the equivalent of the U.S. Olympic Festival.

“Denmark is a small country with only two million people, but basketball is growing in popularity,” Sorensen said. “We’ve never come close to qualifying for the Olympics, but the players are getting better all the time.”

Sorensen, who speaks three languages, is also busy with his studies and hopes to attend the university in Arhus. He said U.S. schools are much easier than those in Denmark, adding, “School is very relaxing here.”

But Sorensen insists the strategy and style of basketball is vastly different in the two countries.

“The players bomb away in Denmark, and there really isn’t much structure to the offense or defense,” he said. “Here, every play is set up, practiced and executed just the way it was practiced.

“In Denmark, the game is more dirty. You get hit on your hands on the way to the basket and nothing gets called. Here, there’s more pushing, but it’s a clean game. When you go up and get hit, they’ll at least call the foul here.”

Sorensen said his friends back home can’t seem to grasp the significance of Saturday’s game.

“I called back home, but my friends don’t understand how big this game is,” he said. “But at least my junior national team coach understands. He’s very happy for me.”

Sorensen said he has only one complaint with the state championship game. The 11:15 starting time is much too early for him.

“I usually sleep until 2 o’clock on Saturdays,” he said. “I’d much rather play at night.”