My Story.

Roman Perez was born in the Dominican Republic. At a young age, he and his family moved to Brooklyn, New York, to pursue their dreams. Roman Perez was not allowed to go outside very much as a child. He grew up in the Williamsburg area during the 1990s. For this reason, his parents were concerned for his safety. At the same time, this did not stop him from pursuing his dreams. He knew that he wanted to play basketball. Even though he started to train hard in high school, he knew that he was behind many of his peers. This is a late age for many people with aspirations to play professional basketball to get started. In this fashion, he was cut from teams repeatedly during his childhood.

Eventually, he made his first basketball team at the age of twenty-three. He played college basketball for a couple of years before returning to the Dominican Republic to continue to play. aside from his own country throughout the years in places such as Ireland, Spain, Russia, France, to name a few. He is well known in the Street-ball scene in New York City as Da Gift. 

His love for the game at a young age consisted of collecting basketball cards and playing basketball video games. Despite not working on his skills, he still tried out for his school basketball teams, and unfortunately did not make any team from 6th grade until his first  year in college. This did not stop him from dreaming big and in at the game of 16 and 17 both summers him and his brother jason created a 2 on 2 basketball league in their home town in the Dominican Republic of San Francisco de macoris in the community of La Yaguiza. Those long summer vacations consisted of lots of hard work and dedication. After years of training and working on his skills with different coaches and trainers such like Coach Wilder, Coach Tippy, etc he finally played in his first school season at Hostos Community college in 2007 at the age of 23. The following year he played for Ny City Tech College. Leading to his decision in 2009 to play professionally. It was a difficult beginning. From zero playing time to disappointments on and off the court. as the years followed and a with a continuous hard work mentality, everything began to fall in place.

Currently Perez has played in 11 countries and his name has been known throughout several parts of the world. From the street-ball scene, to the professional level which opened doors for him in TV and Film. His life and story are all thanks to God and his family. His Parents Miriam and Dudo have been of great influence in all his success, as well as his brother Jason Perez. Roman Perez is the founder of the Dudo Baez Academy, which provides the opportunity for anyone who has a dream to fight for them whether its on or off the court. His message is- “anyone who has a dream, make sure to believe in yourself and put God first no matter what obstacles you may face in life”.