In connection with Arucas Gaming Fest we had the pleasure of sitting down at the team’s stadium with the legendary basketball player and CB Gran Canaria-president Sitapha Savané. In the interview, we talked mostly about sports and inspiration, including Savané’s own and very special life story, better use of technology and video games, or how players in the real world can learn from digital games and simulators.
[Savané var så vennlig å komme til Gamereactor før en av Grancas største kamper denne sesongen].
★ GR: So, first of all, what do you think about tomorrow’s game? First of all, I have to ask you about it, because I can feel the tension…
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Savannah: There is excitement, but you know, we are very confident. We play at home. We’re going to have an audience here. They are going to push us. We are a very strong team at home, but at the same time we have great respect for tomorrow’s opponents, Lenovo-Tenerife.
They are our regional rivals, so these games are extremely special for the crowd and the players. So we just want to have a big basketball party to celebrate two great teams and two great clubs that are doing a great job of representing the Canaries around the world.
★ We’re going to talk about sports and young people, but to inspire them and for those who may not know your story – and I know we can talk about your story for hours – can you tell us a little bit about what it was like to come from Senegal to the USA and then come to Spain and play for ACB.
I always used to say I was very lucky, and my mom always said, “You’re not lucky. You’ve had opportunities, and then you’ve worked hard to make the most of them.”
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I was born and raised in Senegal in a middle-class family, but I had the special feature that my father and mother were politicians and UN officials. So I was lucky enough to get the great opportunities at a young age, and one of them was that I later got the opportunity to live abroad for a while.
I lived in Geneva and then I moved to New York with my mother who worked at the United Nations. This was around the time I started getting serious about basketball. So going to the United States gave me a great opportunity to be in the best country, let’s say, for basketball at the time, develop a lot, go to university over there, play in the NCAA, the college tournaments over there.
“I used to say I was lucky and my mum always said, ‘You’re not. You had opportunities and then you worked hard to make the most of them’.”
And when it was over, I had the opportunity to turn pro. It didn’t work out with the NBA, but I got the chance to play in the Spanish league. I started in the second division here in a team in Menorca, a small team. I came in as an unknown guy and we had a really good season and I was one of the best players.
And from there I took one step after another. And what I initially thought would be a short career of two or three years where I played in Europe, had fun, was in Spain and the Mediterranean, met girls and got a new life, turned out to be an 18-year career here in Spain.
And with that history in your luggage, you can inspire young students and people, men and women who are starting sports and basketball. How important do you think it is to have sports education for young people, so that they can grow up and become adults, regardless of profession?
For me it is enormously important. A club like ours, for example, has a large youth programme. We have close to a thousand children involved in the club. And I always tell them that sports, and especially team sports, teach young children so many values. And you learn while playing, which in my opinion is the best way to learn. Because you really think you’re playing, but at the same time you learn a lot of values from teamwork, being persistent, learning to lose, get back up and work harder to get better.
And all of these are qualities that I, as a team leader in a club, look for in all my employees. Being a hard worker, having the discipline to really practice to get better, and always having the will to improve.
★ Now that we’re talking about sports, let’s talk about sports and the digital version of it. I know you know about NBA 2K and here at Arucas Gaming Fest we have a tournament where players can play both the digital version and the real sport and then we choose a [kombinert] champion. So what do you think about how video games can help users understand basketball and get closer to basketball? And vice versa, people who may only be interested in sports, but can now compete and participate in digital events.
I think your event has a great concept, because for me mixing the two things is the most important thing. Before, it was just basketball out in the streets, you know, on the courts. Now you have the digital side, the whole gaming side. When you combine both, it becomes truly complementary.
“Even when my son is playing [basket] in the real world, I’ve noticed improvements, which I attribute to him playing 2K.”
I always think of my own son, who is very fond of games. And he loves FIFA, which he has now told me will not be called FIFA anymore. So I’m already aware of that. And 2K. And he plays basketball in one of our youth teams. For me as a parent it is strange, because I am a former player. I don’t want to be the obsessive father who is there teaching him more than the coach. But I also want him to learn about the game and gain knowledge about the game.
I’m old school, so I want him to know Magic Johnson’s, Michael Jordan’s and everything else. And he learned all this with 2K, before I started it myself. And with Michael Jordan, for example, he has his entire career. And he’s learned about “The Flu Game” and all the different moments from Michael. I’m a big Michael Jordan fan. So I almost had tears in my eyes when I realized that he has learned all this. And I didn’t even have to come and teach him. And even when he’s playing in the real world, I’ve noticed improvements, which I attribute to him playing 2K.
Because when it comes to the tactical side, there are so many things you see while playing. And he also plays in the real world. So he gets it. And I’ve seen some improvement in his game. And I’ve asked him, “How did you learn this in training?” He replies: “Yeah, some of these things, yes. But when I play 2K and see this and that sticks in my head, I try it in training”. And for me that’s the best thing because sometimes people think that just playing games is bad for kids. They sit down and play. I say: “No, you can mix the two. And one side teaches the other”. His love of basketball led him to 2K. And playing 2K now helps him improve and gain more knowledge about basketball.
Do you also get tears in your eyes when he hits you?
That’s the part. [Det er en annen tåre. Det er et tøft øyeblikk for en pappa. Du tenker: “Sønnen min er 10 år. Hvordan kan en 10-åring slå meg i noe som helst?” Så jeg er veldig konkurranseorientert. Og kona mi tar meg av og til på fersken når ungen har gått på skolen. Da sier jeg: “Kjære, jeg kommer til å gå litt senere på kontoret i dag. Nå må jeg bruke en time på å forbedre meg”. Jeg er på YouTube og leter etter tutorials for å forbedre meg slik at jeg kan slå ham [ler].
It has also created a special bond between us as father and son. We have our own special thing. He has so many special bonds with his mother. So now I also have a special bond with him in basketball, on the court, and also when we play 2K.
And you mentioned how video games can be perceived by people, by parents. And here at this event, we are also a bit cautious when it comes to good use of both technology and best practice, both technology and video games. So what do you think about that, about teaching parents and perhaps also teachers to convey this to the children?
I think that is hugely important. And you know, with change often comes fear. And something new at the beginning… I mean, now we have AI, and we don’t know where it’s going to go. And we have many debates about whether it can be good or extremely dangerous.
“[I likhet med AI og atomspalting] can games be like wine: the key is best practice and spreading it.”
I think that nuclear fission is something that can destroy, with weapons, or that can provide energy and electricity. I see it the same way here, where there is huge potential in play. And it is something that definitely needs to be driven forward. But the key is what you mentioned, best practices. And they really need to be spread. So that parents, teachers and we as a society know how we can utilize this in the best possible way.
Like the example I used with my son. So it is a positive effect, because we also know that it is like so much else in the world. It could be, you know, I like wine. And a person who likes wine can take great pleasure in tasting wine and drinking wine. But if you go too far, it’s obviously dangerous. So it’s the same with everything. I think it’s great that the event focuses on this and gives parents, teachers and society as a whole the tools they need to get the most out of gaming.
That’s a very nice comparison you make there. It is my first time in Gran Canaria. So what can you tell us from your experience? What can you recommend for people to visit and learn from Gran Canaria in terms of the cultural and sporting offer you have here?
As I said earlier, I consider myself extremely lucky because I was born in a wonderful country, Senegal. I have lived in different countries in Europe. I studied and lived in the USA. And I’ve always managed to take the best from every place I’ve lived. And after being in all these places, I chose to settle in Gran Canaria.
So that must tell you something. If you said: Forget New York, forget Dakar, forget Paris. I think it’s a wonderful place. People always look first at the weather. It is something obvious. But the weather has a huge impact on your mood, so to speak, and on your life in general.
People are extremely open. There are places today where I, as a black man from Africa, can experience that you get certain reactions or not. I have had extremely positive experiences here.
On the sports side, as I said, the weather allows it. But there is a general fondness for sports. You have the opportunity to practice many different sports. It is a great cultural offer. It is not without reason that it is one of the biggest tourist destinations in the world. I think that when you come here, it’s not just the beach that matters, but also many other possibilities. Tomorrow, if it’s cloudy, there’s a big basketball game between two teams from the Canary Islands, for example. One team has won the BCL in Europe. We have won the European Cup. Now we have the soccer team UD Las Palmas, which plays in the first division of the Spanish LaLiga. As I said, in the cultural area we have theaters and auditoriums.
It really is a wonderful place. And there’s a reason I’ve called it my second home.
It sounds absolutely fantastic. Thank you very much for taking the time, and good luck with the game tomorrow.
I appreciate it and wish you the best of luck with the rest of the event.
2023-12-16 14:00:00
#sport #inspiration #challenges #interview #Sitapha #Savané
