In his hometown, Nate Sastina is considered a celeb • Thanks to an education series, a 150 kg boy became the first athlete since 1970 to leave the Cameroon district • Tonight, on his way to a promising career, he will try to help Holon beat Gilboa / Galil in the Balkan League semifinals
Knight Sestina
Photo:
Danny Maron
Nate Sastina is the sixth foreigner of Hapoel Holon, who is registered only in the Balkan league or in case one of the senior foreigners is injured or needs a rest in the Premier League.
In his hometown, however, he is a celeb.
According to Wikipedia, the American forward / center is one of the most famous people to come out of the small town of Emporium, Pennsylvania.
He is also the first athlete since 1970 to come from Cameroon Province to Division 1 in any sport.
After such an introduction, one can easily think that he is a veteran actor who has won many titles.
So this is it, no.
Sastina is a 23-year-old rookie who has never won a title, and Hapoel Holon is the first professional team in his career.
"Whenever I come back to my town, I try to stay the same child I was," he tells Israel Today in his first interview since arriving in Israel, "It's a little difficult because all the young people know me and talk about me."
In recent years he has opened basketball camps for the area's children.
"I want to give back to my community. I enjoy working with the children and the opportunity to help them and teach them the important things in life."
Tough brothers from the Marines
Emporium is a pastoral town, surrounded by fields and rivers.
"My town is so small that there are no bad places. We would eat breakfast and go out until sunset. I would go with my father to fish or hunt. I always say I am the best fisherman in the family, but my father would probably say otherwise. We hunted mostly deer and turkeys. Hunting a deer with a white tail is something special. "
He is the youngest of five children.
His parents brought him into the world when he was 38. His mother teaches swimming, his father teaches gymnastics and basketball, both are Catholic Christians ("As a kid I used to go to church a lot, but I'm a little less than my parents and don't test other people's beliefs. Let everyone live with their faith") Him for excellence in studies and sports.
He once even said that his mother did not let him eat if he missed free throws.
"She never played basketball so she did not understand how to miss free throws," he laughs.
Knight, the youngest in a family of five children, grew up in a patriotic atmosphere.
His two older brothers enlisted in the Army and served in the Marines.
"I was in fourth grade when my older brother joined the Marines, and since then I remember from him a lot of discipline and things related to the military. There was also such an atmosphere at home, and my mother was angry if I did not make the bed as fast as he did. It affected me and made me respect adults. "Only physically. There you understand that you can do things that you are sure you can not do."
"My big brother was stationed in Afghanistan and every morning I would get up worried and pray for his safety. Thank God he came back last September and was released and everything is fine. My other brother was already pampered at a base in San Diego which is a similar place to Israel with stunning beaches. He has also been released."
Have you also considered a military career?
"When I was little I wanted to, but my brother told me I found something I was really good at, so I have to do everything to make it my profession. My brother said, and that's exactly what I did."
Muscles, pools and haircuts
At first everything came to young Sastina easily.
He was the best player in the local high school and was named the best player of the season in the county.
His parents drove him to tournaments around the country to impress and find a good college.
In the end he was admitted to the prestigious Bucknell University which is considered one of the most expensive universities in the US and then the difficulties began. Last season, he entered the top five, improved his averages and was selected to the top five in the league, and his improved ability caught the eye of the most famous college basketball talent hunter, John Cliffari, the famous coach of the great Kentucky College.
"When he picked up the phone I was right in the market talking to Coach Calipari and the first meeting with him was surreal. I did not believe it was happening. He immediately told me that he does not guarantee success, but that if I work hard he offers me good resources, facilities, and connections in the basketball world. "He is amazing and has a huge impact on my life. It was only when I got there that I realized what was required of a professional."
When he entered the Wildcats' training facility, the team members of the team were amazed to discover a chubby guy who weighed about 150 kilos. "I was very heavy, really big," smiles embarrassed Sastina, a generally noisy guy. Fitness coach Rob Harris approached him and told him that this was not how a professional looked, and that he must recover. "I do not know how many hours I spent in the gym and pool. Me and Rob have been close and we are in touch to this day. He always told me I should train like I am a dog chasing a steak. I lost a lot of weight, I became more athletic and it really bounced me to a high level." Today, Holon testifies that Sastina is the player who spends the most time in the gym and generally takes care of his body carefully.
Alongside a muscular and well-groomed body, Sastina boasts some spectacular tattoos.
One of them is VII, which symbolizes the seven members of his family.
Another seven-arrow tattoo was done in honor of his grandmother, who holds Native American roots ("It shows we can't be broken").
"I enjoy lifting weights and exercising, in the summer looking for places with a pool and good sun, and before important games getting a haircut and drinking a few cups of coffee. I have my regular routine and if I don't stick to it I go crazy. I have habits I have to stick to."
His girlfriend Madison Lily is one of the stars of Kentucky College who has won the college volleyball championship right in the last few days.
"She's tall and amazing. My mom loves her and I'm a mom type so that's good. Maybe next year we'll talk about a wedding."
KD and I
In the summer, Sastina began his professional career. He was already in contact with Ainers BC Kiev in Gatskis, but eventually signed with Nizhny Novgorod. He trained for a few weeks with the Russian team, but eventually did not play and left. "I got there in November and it was frozen there. There are good conditions there, but it's not like my wonderful experience in Israel. You wake up to high temperatures and when I drink coffee in the morning I already sweat. You can not beat your weather and beaches. The people here take care of all the details and everything Professional. I really enjoy it here. "
Before arriving in Holon in March, Sastina moved on to the NBA's most talked about team - the Brooklyn Nets, then still without James Harden and Blake Griffin, but with Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving. He trained with them for two weeks, before moving on to the G-League. "It's amazing, I came from such a small place and suddenly I'm playing with the best players in the world. It's a dream come true. When I first arrived I was waiting for my turn to check out Corona and suddenly I see a huge figure next to me and someone says to me 'Hello, I'm KD'. I told him 'Hello, I'm When I finished talking to him I ran like a little boy and called my family to tell me I talked to Durant. He's a huge actor, but a guy like everyone else who loves shoes and talks about cars. ".
“I played one-on-one with Amara Studmeier (the team’s top coach, YM) and it was tremendous.
After training I called my brother and told him 'in high school I guarded you and now I'm guarding Studmeier'.
There is a bit of a difference in athletics between them. "
Do you feel his strong Judaism on a daily basis?
"I can not tell you for sure, but when we watched him play in Phoenix he was such a lunatic, and now he is very calm, really a basketball teacher. It seems he is in a calm, focused and confident place in his life."
Steve Nash controls the team or are the players the ones making the decisions?
"I would define it as a balanced situation. He was a great player and he is very smart. You see he knows the job. He talks to the players, asks what they think and how they feel. There are some great basketball minds on the team."
The short period there spurred you even further to get to the NBA?
"My big dream is that my name will be announced at an NBA game, when I wear the uniform of one of the teams and my parents are watching the stands. I'm on my way there, literally knocking on the door."
Even before that, Sestina has a chance to win a bachelor’s degree in her career.
Tonight he and his friends will meet Gilboa / Galil in the semi-finals of the Balkan League, and the winner will be a favorite in the final against the winner in the corresponding match between Academic Plovdiv and the Bulgarian creation (17:30).
"I love winning titles, and when I came here the people at the club told me we were in a good situation in this league," concludes Sestina, "I'm especially excited because the game will be in front of our crowd, which makes everything feel bigger."
