The high school enrollment for Melstone per the Montana High School Association this year? 32 students. Not bad for a town with a population south of 200, but keep in mind there are a handful of foreign exchange students.
One of those is Niklas Muffler, who has experienced quite a change from his hometown of about 13,000 in Germany.
“I would say the first thing is people in general in America are way more open and way more fun," Muffler said. "I feel like there's way more pressure in Germany in general. Here it's more about having fun and just making friends with other people. I'd say that's been easier over here."
Muffler tried his hand at track and field this spring, as there’s no school-sanctioned sport back home. It’s been a bit of a learning curve, especially since Melstone didn’t have its runways for the long and triple jump pits after a storm last spring destroyed them.
“I don't really expect a lot, I just want to see how it goes. I want to work on it and see how it will go for the next meets," Muffler said.
He’ll try his hand at several different events through the course of the year, but it’s basketball that’s his true calling. It’s big back in Germany, though there were adjustments he had to make coming stateside.
“I'd say probably the physicality of the game over here and then also probably the speed. In Melstone we played a lot of systems. We didn't really do that in Germany," Muffler said.
Muffler has made quite a name for himself in the small town of Melstone so far. Let’s see what the German standout can do this spring.
