Alvaro Tejón

Alvaro Tejón
(European Badger, C)
ID# 1305

No. 19 – Plymouth Taproots
Position	Center
Species	European Badger ( Mustelidae )
Gender	Male
Nickname(s)
Tapas,
Personal information
Phonetic	AL-vah-row Tay-HONE
Born	(2003-03-18) March 18, 2003 Zaragoza, Spain
Nationality	Spanish
Listed height	7 ft 3 in (2.21 m)
Listed weight	320 lb (145 kg)
Shoots	Right-handed
Career information
School	University of Strathclydesdale, Scotland
FBA draft	2023 / Round: 1 / Pick: 19th overall
Selected by the Plymouth Taproots
Pro playing career	2023–present
Career history
2023 - present	Plymouth Taproots
Career highlights and awards
FBA All-Star (2025) FBA Rookie All-Star (2024)
Contract information
Contract year	2025
2026 Salary	$11.0 million
2027 Salary	$12.0 million
2028 Salary	$12.5 million
Player Contacts
(IC) Agent	Mitch
(OOC) Creator	Mitch
(OOC) Actor	Unknown
(OOC) Usage	Ask me before any use

Biography

Early Life:

In Zaragoza, Spain, Alvaro Tejón’s early life was one of structure, order, and discipline, followed by anger, confusion, and ostracism. The third child of four, but the only boy, he was the focus of his father’s attention, as his father was a Spanish Air Force colonel. While it was obvious even from early on that he could never become a pilot due to his size, Alvaro was still primed for a military career nonetheless, with his father expecting greatness from him. Sports and athletics became his battlefield, first with football (soccer), then basketball when he became too big for the sport. At age eleven, he’d already reached six feet in height, and was introduced to basketball by American servicemen and their families stationed at the same base his father served at.

There he excelled, focusing on tactics, choosing his battles. Not every play needed his all, but he would give everything in the right moment - a trait which stuck with him through his university career. But this did not please his father, who demanded he work harder and show constant dominance, never relenting on the “enemy.” For a time, Alvaro attempted this, but going full-bore against less-skilled, or less-threatening players meant he was using energy which would be better suited to defending true scoring threats, or charging his own way to the basket. His father did not agree, and it led to heated, even physical arguments, until Alvaro turned the tables on him by comparing court play to military strategy - something his father often went on about. It was only then that his father began to understand the value of Alvaro’s court decisions, and it spurred on a path of help and guidance.

Using some sway to allow Alvaro into base gyms and training facilities, his father oversaw a rigorous training regiment, pushing Alvaro to not just compete with other kids, but adults instead. Alvaro was held to military standard, not allowed to back down, or stop when he was tired. It was brutal training at times, but in the end he began to understand his father’s need for discipline and order in all things, and it brought the two closer together than ever before.

But it would not last. When Alvaro was thirteen, he was summoned to the principal’s office during a school day, where he was notified that his father had suffered a massive, unexpected heart attack that morning, and had died. In an instant, Alvaro’s life had changed. The structure and order was gone, and in its place he became angry and arrogant, letting petty slights get the better of him. The need to not only win, but make his opponents look bad took over, and bled into his personal and school life to the point where, at age fifteen, his mother threatened to kick him out of the house.

Everything came to a head when a foul on court turned into a heated argument between himself, and both American and Spanish servicemen, then into a fist fight which had to be stopped by military police. While the servicemen were handled by their respective country’s MPs, the nearly seven-foot, fifteen year old badger was taken before the base commander, wrists zip-tied together as handcuffs were not large enough to fit him. There he received a dressing-down like no other, with the base commander bringing up the memory of Alvaro’s father numerous times, and how disappointed he’d be if he could have seen his son’s behavior as of late. Alvaro was sent home, and banned from playing on the military courts, under threat of arrest if he returned.

Unable to play against skilled adults, Alvaro had no choice but to put all his effort into his secondary school basketball team. There he dominated, putting what he’d learned from better opponents to use, and became heavily scouted. He was a center that no one could defend, and that few could score against. By sixteen, he had cleared seven feet, and was nearly double the weight of most boys his own age, with power they simply couldn’t match. And thus, they weren’t a challenge. Alvaro needed a challenge, and shortly before graduating secondary school, he did the one thing he was warned not to. He returned to the military courts.

Alvaro was immediately arrested for trespassing, but resisted and engaged in a physical altercation with the guards. Naturally it landed him in a holding cell, with the base considering formal charges. But because he was still a minor, he was eventually ejected from the base and handed over to local authorities, where he received a sentence of three months of community service, and a permanent mark on his record. Once word reached his school, he was dropped from the team. University offers vanished, with only one remaining on the table: the University of Strathclydesdale, in Glasgow, Scotland, who simply hadn’t heard about the incident.

Seeing his future going down in flames, Alvaro became bitter and irritable, lashing out at those around him, until at last his boyfriend at the time dumped him and his mother told him it was either Scotland or the streets. Packing his bags, Alvaro left Zaragoza after graduating secondary school at sixteen, and caught a plane for Glasgow.

University:

Things didn’t exactly go as planned, when it came to university. Oh, the transition from sunny Spain to the endless gray of Glasgow was intense, but at least Alavaro’s grasp of English was good enough to get him by. Years of interacting with Americans had helped with that, though parsing some of the thicker Scottish accents proved difficult at first.

What else proved difficult was actually playing basketball. At least in games on the court, against other university teams. While Strathclydesdale had offered him a scholarship, BUCS rules stated he couldn’t actually compete on a team until he turned seventeen. That meant an entire year of only being able to practice with the team, but not even suit up for a game. A year of hard drills, intense training, and even more intense frustration. He’d come for a challenge, something he’d been seeking since he was a child, trying to find someone who could offer him a serious force to be reckoned with. And all he got for his first year was practice, and classrooms.

But he did find a different sort of challenge off the court, as many of his Scottish teammates found joy in mocking his Spanish heritage. The nickname “Tapas” came up early on, as it was the only Spanish thing they could come up with immediately, and it stuck. The irony of tapas being a selection of small plates or sharing appetizers, vs. Alvaro’s massive size only fueled its use, and eventually he gave up trying to fight it.

But he didn’t give up fighting. Instead, he found his anger issues well-placed amongst his new countrymen, with several of them willing to engage in contests of strength, or drinking - often both once the latter was involved. Through prowess of muscle and fortitude of liver, Alvaro finally found himself accepted, and once he turned seventeen, a true member of the team. And in turn, all his friends wound up with ill-fitting, embarrassing nicknames of their own, by his doing.

Over the next few years, the big badger adopted his new Scottish culture, even participating in the local Highland Games to reasonable acclaim. By eighteen he’d topped out at 7’3”, and his powerful build weighed in at over three hundred pounds, with only a bit of softness around the middle. He’d even managed to land a few local boyfriends during that time, though nothing long-term ever seemed to pan out.

On the basketball court, he’d reverted to his earlier mindset of picking battles, to devastating consequences. Players were studied ahead of time, so he knew who would be a threat vs. who he could casually defend, and energies were spent accordingly. Some called him lazy, but he knew what he was doing. Lull your opponent into a false sense of security, then either destroy them on a scoring drive, or become an impenetrable wall of defense against them. In time, he even began going out of his way to focus on shutting down opposing stars, or scoring hard on them, just to make a point - even if they were in a different position entirely. When Alvaro chose to exert dominance, few could stand up to him.

If he wanted a rebound, he’d have it. If he wanted to block a shot, he’d get a massive paw in the way. If he wanted to clog a lane, his huge, thick body could seem twice as wide as it should be. Think you can sink that jumper? You’ve not seen a 7’3” badger jump to swat it down. While not the fastest player on the court, he could explode with speed when necessary, becoming a freight train when heading to the hoop, and delighted in smashing down dunks to demoralize his opponents, or sink mid-range shots with deadly accuracy. Threes were far from the action, and thus well outside his wheelhouse, so the badger never developed a shooting game from beyond the arc, preferring to be up close and personal. But those same big paws that could block shots also suffered when trying to exert the fine control needed for free throws, making him less than reliable from the line.

In his first season he averaged fifteen points and three blocks per game, those stats nearly doubling to twenty-five and five by his senior year. He’d also blossomed to 320 pounds of power, and at last a more pleasant demeanor in life. Casual slights which once rankled him easily became shrugged off, and a quick wit fired back at more meaningful insults. And, of course, serious insults were typically met with intense dominance on the court.

Graduating with a degree in business administration, it was clear that his diploma was a piece of paper he never intended to put to use. Alvaro “Tapas” Tejón set his sights on North America, and the FBA, as it was the peak of play, and he would not be satisfied with the EFBL when the best could be had. Determined to prove himself even more, and put his newfound Scottish bravado to the test, the hulking Spanish badger has entered into the FBA draft, aiming to become the next top center in the league.

Well, that and finding an American boyfriend might not hurt.

Career Stats

Season	Team	G	Min	FGM	FGA	3PtM	3PtA	FTM	FTA	Off	Reb	Ast	TO	Stl	Blk	PF	Pts	MPG	FG%	TP%	FT%	RPG	APG	TPG	SPG	BPG	FPG	PPG	Ast/TO
2023-2024	PLY	79	1418.1	192	331	0	0	153	201	64	357	95	100	35	41	104	537	18	0.58	N/A	0.761	4.5	1.2	1.3	0.4	0.5	1.3	6.8	1
2024-2025	PLY	80	2590	547	1050	0	0	267	383	111	832	208	158	82	114	264	1361	32.4	0.521	N/A	0.697	10.4	2.6	2	1	1.4	3.3	17	1.3
Career Total		159	4008.1	739	1381	0	0	420	584	175	1189	303	258	117	155	368	1898	25.2	0.535	N/A	0.72	7.5	1.9	1.6	0.7	1	2.3	11.9	1.2

Gallery

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  University Photo Highlights Mitch