Basketball | Shelby Cheslek confuses with her height on the field and in her spare time: “I like to make videos with some shock factor”

American Shelby Cheslek moved to Finland at the beginning of October to pursue basketball.

The move from the Caribbean Sea to the Nordics happened quickly, as Cheslek only had time to think about his decision for a week before signing a one-year contract with Forssa Alu.

The basketball player who played in Puerto Rico last season says that he hasn’t regretted his decision for a single day. However, one thing in the Finnish town of 20,000 residents surprised Cheslek from the United States.

“I didn’t explore Forssa much before I came. I didn’t realize how small a place it is until I moved there,” Cheslek says and laughs.

Cheslek lives in Forssa with three roommates. The apartment is located near the gym, and the apartment has the sanctuary of the Finnish home, i.e. the sauna.

“

I didn’t realize how small a place Forsa is until I moved there.

The basketball player laughs when he talks about his first experience in a Finnish sauna.

“I didn’t know you had to throw water on the stove. It only became clear to me when my teammates told me that some of the other Americans didn’t know it,” says Cheslek.

Basketball in addition, Cheslek works as a model, sings and actively updates his social media accounts. The 196-centimeter Cheslek makes videos on TikTok and Instagram about what it’s like to be a tall woman, for example.

The average height of women worldwide is around 160 centimeters, so Cheslek clearly stands out from the others with her height. However, it has never bothered him. It also hasn’t affected his dating life at all, for example.

Cheslek, 30, says the attention she gets, rather than her height, has sometimes become a problem in her past relationships.

“Many strangers come to talk to me and I’m used to people wanting to take pictures with me. It may create insecurity for others. I think it’s just fun,” says Cheslek.

“

I like to make videos with some shock factor.

Cheslek got excited about making TikTok videos because it combines his multiple interests. Cheslek has studied economics and marketing, and he also likes photography and editing.

“I like to make videos with some shock factor, because I think it’s a fun way to get the audience’s attention,” says Cheslek.

In several videos, Cheslek wears high heels that easily make him over two meters tall. In the videos, he shows how he has to duck under the door frames so his head doesn’t hit the ceiling.

Cheslek says she loves high heels, but hasn’t always worn them as often as she would have liked. When she was younger, Cheslek dated boys who didn’t like the fact that an already tall woman wore high shoes.

Cheslek says she no longer lets others influence her style or dress. On the contrary, he wants to cherish the traits that make him unique.

“I’m not going to change who I am, and I wouldn’t expect anyone else to either,” he says.

Chesle too videos have tens of millions of views at best.

Social media has given Cheslek the opportunity to make more money. Cheslek uses, for example, Instagram’s new feature, which allows you to produce content only for paid subscribers. The feature is similar to the OnlyFans platform.

Cheslek Earns about one hundred euros a month from subscriber fees alone. He has previously considered creating an OnlyFans account, but decided not to join the platform after thinking about it.

“Many of my friends urged me to join OnlyFans, but many have negative prejudices towards it. People assume that only nude photos are shared there, but that’s not true,” says Cheslek.

Cheslek believes that being on OnlyFans could hurt his career.

“Some countries are a bit stricter. I once had to delete some photos from social media where I was wearing a swimsuit. I don’t want to give a negative image of myself as a basketball player,” says Cheslek.

“

I love fish soup. I don’t understand why we don’t have that in Washington.

Cheslek played his first match in Finland on October 11. The American scored the most points and assists and had the most rebounds in his first Korisliiga match.

FoA is currently at the bottom of the standings in the women’s Korisliiga, but Cheslek believes that the situation will improve towards the end of the season.

“It’s really great to see how, especially our youngest players, are developing really fast in front of the eyes. We have key players coming back to our lineup, so I think we’ll still go up in the standings,” Cheslek says.

Cheslek only has good things to say about Finland, even though Finns are often thought of as a nation that avoids elevator pitches and meetings with strangers

Cheslek says that strangers have helped him, for example, in public transport to find one place to another.

Finnish food has also found its way to the heart of Cheslek.

“I love fish soup. I don’t understand why we don’t have that in Washington. It’s so good!” Cheslek enthuses.