The game among the teenagers was running late, forcing the senior-leaguers to wait for their turn on the court. So Holger Geschwindner sat and watched.
As the captain of Germany's 1972 Olympic team, Geschwindner knew talent when he saw it. And he was captivated by the tall, skinny kid who had an ugly shot but a keen understanding of the game.
``You could see that he was doing the things that good basketball players do,'' Geschwindner said.
Geschwindner asked the 16-year-old who his coach was. Stunned that he had none, Geschwindner volunteered to do it himself, for free, even though it meant driving more than an hour each way to the boy's hometown of Wurzburg.
Dirk Nowitzki proved to be a fast learner.
Following a unique regimen that's included fencing, rowing, Rollerblading and music lessons, Nowitzki has developed into the MVP of last summer's world
championships, a two-time NBA All-Star and the reason the Dallas Mavericks have won at least 50 games the past three seasons.
A 2.1m as comfortable behind the 3-point line as in the paint, he's been the team's top scorer and rebounder each of those three seasons. He opened this postseason with 46 points, a career high and a team playoff record.
Yet Nowitzki and Geschwindner aren't satisfied.
Both consider him a work in progress, saying he's only at the start of the sixth level of a seven-tiered plan they laid out many years ago. Geschwindner estimates it will take two more years to finish the climb.
``I feel I have a long way to go to become a complete player,'' said Nowitzki, who in two months will be 25. ``It starts with rebounding. Defensively, I don't move my feet laterally great. My ball-handling has to be better. My post moves have gotten better along the years, but there's still a long way to go."
Revelations of positive doping tests for nearly two dozen Chinese swimmers that went unpunished sparked an intense flurry of accusations and legal threats between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the head of the US drug-fighting organization, who has long been one of WADA’s fiercest critics. WADA on Saturday said it was turning to legal counsel to address a statement released by US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) CEO Travis Tygart, who said WADA and anti-doping authorities in China swept positive tests “under the carpet by failing to fairly and evenly follow the global rules that apply to everyone else in the world.” The
Taiwanese judoka Yang Yung-wei on Saturday won silver in the men’s under-60kg category at the Asian Judo Championships in Hong Kong. Nicknamed the “judo heartthrob” in Taiwan, the Olympic silver-medalist missed out on his first Asian Championships gold when he lost to Japanese judoka Taiki Nakamura in the finals. Yang defeated three opponents on Saturday to reach the final after receiving a bye through the round of 32. He first topped Laotian Soukphaxay Sithisane in the round of 16 with two seoi nage (over-the-shoulder throws), then ousted Indian Vijay Kumar Yadav in the quarter-finals with his signature ude hishigi sankaku gatame (triangular armlock). He
Rafael Nadal on Wednesday said the upcoming French Open would be the moment to “give everything and die” on the court after his comeback from injury in Barcelona was curtailed by Alex de Minaur. The 22-time Grand Slam title winner, back playing this week after three months on the sidelines, battled well, but eventually crumbled 7-5, 6-1 against the world No. 11 from Australia in the second round. Nadal, 37, who missed virtually all of last season, is hoping to compete at the French Open next month where he is the record 14-time champion. The Spaniard said the clash with De Minaur was
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