Being able to play a sport overseas is exciting to anyone. Now imagine being a rising high school senior that’s going to represent your home country in the country of your family’s ancestry, a place you’ve never visited.

That’s exactly what’s happening with Loyola Academy’s Vahe Kalayjian July 21-27. The Ramblers shooting guard will be traveling to Armenia to play in the Pan-Homenetmen Games, representing one of three teams from the United States. Kalayjian will be on the Eastern USA squad that will play in the Junior Men’s Basketball competition.

“Every year, through my church, I’ve been in this organization called Homenetmen,” Kalayjian said. “Every year, there are regional games in different cities. This year’s regionals were in Providence, where I was competing with Chicago against teams from the East Coast.”

The Chicago team rebounded from an early loss to come through the loser’s bracket and win the title by beating the Boston team it had lost to earlier in the tournament.

He’s used his experiences throughout his church to help him get this far and be able to have this opportunity.

“Through my church community, I know these guys,” Kalayjian said. “My dad used to take me to play and practice with them and here I am now, enjoying myself. Now, we have all the kids playing with me from Chicago. It impacted me in the long run because now I have a great opportunity to play in Armenia and showcase my skills over there.”

The junior competition is made up of seven teams, two from the Western USA, one from the Eastern, two from Lebanon and one each from Canada and Australia. The teams play a round-robin schedule, with games starting July 21 and ending July 27. 

Despite playing on the Chicago team in the regional playoffs, there is no Midwest team, so Kalayjian will be playing on an East Coast team made up of players between the ages of 16-18 from across all parts of the United States, sans the West Coast.

All of the teams that play in the Pan-Homenetmen Games are comprised of athletes of Armenian descent, of which Kalayjian is 100 percent.

“I’ve never been there so I’m looking forward to, not only basketball, but off the court stuff as well,” he said. “It’s going to be fun. Hopefully, I’ll be able to visit some orphanages out there, help some of the kids that need some love. 

“I’m looking forward to meeting all of them, speaking Armenian and at the end of the day, it’s not just about basketball; It’s knowing about where you’re from and who your people are and it’s going to be fun to visit my homeland for the first time.”

Kalayjian is a second-generation Armenian-American, can write and speak the language fluently and has been going to Armenian school on Saturdays since he was a child. 

“My mom used to be the principal before I was born,” Kalayjian said. “She and my uncle run an Armenian dance company, so we get all these Armenian kids together in the community, perform here and there and it’s great to see all these Armenian kids living out their true heritage.”

For Kalayjian and his teammates, the trip won’t be all about basketball, though. They know they’ll be able to see other things than just the inside of a basketball arena.

“I’m sure it’s going to be different way of life and not what I’m used to here in America,” he said. “It’s going to be cool to see how everyone does things, the kids and how they carry themselves. I’ll see how they can use my help and my teammates’ help out there, so at the end of the day I’m going to come back and see the world in a different way. 

“Life’s not always perfect and there are people out there, little kids in those orphanages, those kids are tough. Everything is greater than basketball. We’ll recognize that.”

The 10th Pan-Homenetmen Games began July 21 and ran until July 29 in Yerevan, the capital city of Armenia. Kalayjian’s team took fourth at the Games.