File this under the “absurd” section. According to the Windsor Star, Jonathan Nicola was a 6’9, 202-pound basketball talent (you can see the video above), but turned out the Catholic Central Comets player is in fact 30 years old.
He was arrested Wednesday for violating the Immigration Refugee Protection Act after Canadian Border Services Agency found evidence that he was a full 18 years older than his oldest competitors. He was even living with his coach, Pete Cusumano.
He was in a program that finds homes for foreign students called Canada Homestay. Nicola came to Canada from the fragile and war-torn country of South Sudan, a country that only recently gained its independence in 2011.
“Generally I can tell you that we have a system of checks and balances in place that whenever international students are coming into any of our schools, we make sure that they have all of the necessary government documentation that they require in order to be in one of our schools,” Windsor-Essex Catholic District School Board Stephen Fields told the Windsor Star.
The video above is a highlight reel as there was thought maybe Nicola could go pro or advance his basketball career. We’ll let you be the judge – does his play look like he’s 30 or 17?