VCU’s Pishchalnikov has made transition to the American way

Kirill Pishchalnikov knew he had adjusted to America when his mother came from Russia to visit in 2007.

Pishchalnikov had been at Virginia Commonwealth University for several months. His mother stayed at his apartment.

"She told me when I was dreaming I was speaking English," he said.

Things aren't so foreign anymore for the big Russian, who spoke only a few words of English when he got off a plane in Washington, D.C., and headed to Richmond.

He's adapted quickly to the culture, fast food -- pizza, hamburgers and his favorite, burritos -- and American basketball.

The 6-8, 248-pound junior forward is starting and playing a larger role in his second season. He's a blue-collar player who provides a tough, physical presence for the depth-shy Rams. He will take averages of 5.7 points and 5.3 rebounds into today's Colonial Athletic Association game at Hofstra.

"He's developed nicely," VCU coach Anthony Grant said. "He had to get used to the style of play. He was probably a little more mechanical in the way he played. He didn't play in a system like ours with as much transition and up and down.

"He had to get accustomed to that. He had to get accustomed to the training here, the food. There was just so many things that you don't even consider that goes into what you do on the court."

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Pishchalnikov's family -- from Maykop, a city of about 150,000 in southern Russia near the Caucasus mountains and the Black Sea -- is steeped in discus tradition.

His parents are discus coaches. His sister, Darya, throws it. His brother, Bogdan, finished sixth in the 2008 Beijing Olympics with a heave of 216-1¾.

"He met Kobe Bryant and LeBron James and took pictures," he said. "It was pretty cool."

Kirill gravitated to basketball. He starred on the Russian junior national team. Former VCU player Eugene Kissourine, who has ties to the national program, recommended him to the Rams after Pishchalnikov played one season at Maykop State Technological University.

Kissourine told Pishchalnikov he would get better in basketball and get a better education. Pishchalnikov took Kissourine at his word and, with only a few pictures of VCU provided by assistant coach Tony Pujol, left for a land about which he knew little.

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In Russia, Pishchalnikov took English intermittently for five years. He didn't remember much when he got here.

He took a learning program in English. He looked at the Internet. He put up a word wall of simple phrases.

Vera Chistova, a VCU women's basketball player from Russia who's now a graduate assistant, helped, as did other students who spoke Russian. Pishchalnikov insisted they speak in English so he could learn faster.

In practice, he sometimes gestured with his hands when he didn't understand something. Slang came fairly easy, he said with a chuckle.

It took about a year before Pishchalnikov felt comfortable conversing.

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Overcoming the language barrier has accelerated his adjustment to American basketball.

He did pretty much what he wanted and sometimes shot 3-pointers -- he has a nice midrange jumper -- in Russia. He's had to learn the American preference for posting up around the basket and a speedier pace.

"In Russia," he said, "I never run so much."

Pishchalnikov misses his family but communicates with them by telephone and e-mail. He sometimes sends game tapes for them to watch.

He knew he'd really arrived in America when he went home to Russia this past summer.

"My friends ask me something, and sometimes I forget the Russian words," he said. "I want to say it in English, and I say, 'Hold on. Translate it from English to Russian.'

"They were like, come on, you forget?"