After graduating from Lake Forest College with a degree in communication, Sean Espinosa ’22 is in France, building a life and a career playing professional basketball with Agde Basket.
Sean was a four-year letter winner for the men’s basketball team. He made his mark on the program, writing his name in the school record book a plethora of times, including setting the record for most career assists (484) and most assists per game (4.7). He also ranks third in team annals for most points (1,635). His season stats ranked him one of the best players on the team season after season.
Sean also earned plenty of awards and honors when he was a Forester. During Sean’s junior and senior years, he served as team captain and was the team’s most valuable player. He earned the team’s most improved player designation his sophomore year. Sean was named First Team All-Midwest Conference all three seasons as well, and during his senior year was also named Academic All-Midwest Conference and to the NABC Honors Court.
“The process of getting a professional contract was long, overwhelming, and a rollercoaster of emotions,” Sean said. “I emailed hundreds of agents after my senior season ended. I sent them my stats and bio from my time at Lake Forest along with a highlight tape from my senior season. I got a few responses but a lot of silence.
“I have friends that play professionally in other countries. and I asked them for helped and contacts that they thought could help me and by reaching out to these contacts I was able to get real opportunities,” he continued. “I went to Spain for a week to work out in front of teams there, and they all said they were interested and liked me and all good things, but I was never presented with a contract.”
That all changed when Sean received an official contract with Agde Basket. After looking the contract over carefully with friends and family, Sean signed it and began his professional career.
“The difference between professional and college is the amount of rest/free time. In college you have classes every day, then weightlifting, then practice and then homework and you repeat it everyday. Here we have weightlifting and then practice. And there’s much more free time with my day and more days for recovery,” Sean said when asked about how things are different playing basketball professionally versus in college.
When asked how they were the same, he added, “[It’s] a pretty cliché answer but at the end of the day it’s still just playing basketball. Obviously, it is professional now so there are some better players, but it’s still all the same fundamentals essentially.”
“Playing basketball at Lake Forest prepared me by helping me grow as a man (both on and off the court) and as a leader and just by helping me become a better player. From my freshman year, I was thrown into the fire, and it really forced me to grow and mature. Then, I grew into a leadership role and that has helped me, especially as a point guard. And lastly at a DIII school, there’s a limited amount of time you get with the coach and team for workouts, so if you want to get better there’s a lot you have to do on your own. And that has helped me because with the free time [with Agde Basket] you must hold yourself accountable to get extra work in to make sure you continue to improve. Since I did that at Lake Forest, I’m able to do that now.”
Agde is in the south of France along the Mediterranean Sea, close to Portugal. “Life in France is different. Everything here is extremely nonchalant, and things get done on their own time. The first month or so I was alone and going through so many different emotions. I was happy and proud of myself for achieving my dreams, but I was also scared and nervous. That was extremely difficult. I was able to adjust slowly and figure things out, and then my girlfriend joined me out here, which made things 100 times better. We both love it here now after a little transition time, but it was hard at first.”
When asked for any final thoughts, Sean said, “I am extremely grateful for my time at Lake Forest and want to thank everyone there who helped me in some way. And I cannot wait to watch some games this year with Johnny Roeser and Rocco Ronzio leading this team!”