Basketball player comes to make a splash at Chaminade

Leaving home at the tender age of 16 in the pursuit of basketball, Andre Arissol continues to make a name for himself. Growing up without a father in the home, Arissol’s passion for hoops has brought him here to Chaminade and continues to drive his focus to be a great player.

“My dad wasn’t the best person and he wasn’t in my life for most of it,” he said. “Early on, I knew I needed to be the man of the house and when I first told my mom I wanted to play basketball she said no, but when she saw I was good at it, that changed.”

Coming all the way from England, Arissol is a new transfer guard on the Chaminade Silversword men’s basketball team. Arissol transferred from Otero Junior College along with being ranked 50th in the school’s all-time scoring list with 460 career points with the Rattlers. He helped guide Otero to a 29-5 mark and a berth in the NJCAA National Championship Tournament.

After being offered a Division I opportunity from Oral Roberts University, Arissol chose Chaminade as the best place to showcase his talents.

“I knew the coaching staff would get me to where I wanted to be, playing at a professional level,” Arissol said.

With head coach Eric Bovaird and Chaminade’s track record for sending players overseas to play professional basketball Chaminade was an easy choice.

“Chaminade has had many players before me go into the professional arena and that is what I desire in the future, in the recruiting process, knowing Coach Bovaird has played professionally overseas, I knew I was going to be in good hands,” Arissol said.

“We’ve known about Andre for awhile and have been recruiting guys from England for awhile now,” Bovaird said. “He was one of the captains [at his junior college], one of the leaders, and we thought that could translate to playing well for us.”

Arissol has been playing well in eight games for the Swords, averaging 9.6 points, 2.5 rebounds, 1.4 assists, and 1.4 steals per game. His performance in CUH’s 114-101 win over UH-Hilo on Dec. 1 was his best as a Silversword so far. He scored a team-high 21 points in just 24 minutes.

Chaminade is 8-0 this season and is competing in the Hoops in Hawai’i DII Power Invitational at the Hawaii Convention Center. The Swords play Dallas Baptist on Monday at 3:30 p.m. and then either Western Oregon or 7th-ranked San Diego on Tuesday.

Arissol mentioned that the Maui Invitational was one of the biggest influences on him to come out to play for the Chaminade Silverswords and live in Hawaii. However, for the first year, Chaminade did not compete in the Maui Invitational as part of a revamping of the tournament. The host Swords will appear in the nationally televised Maui Invitational every other year. 

“I’m disappointed in not going this year but there is always next year,” he said. “I’m still as motivated as ever to being playing for Chaminade.”

When asked, has he reached his goal of taking care of the ladies in his life Arissol said  “I know I am making them proud.”

After Chaminade, Arissol hopes to play in a professional arena and would like to use his degree for broadcasting and media.