By Nikos Varlas
Dimitris Diamantidis. One (more) Greek player whose value in the international basketball scene is recognized and he is a role model for thousand of kids and especially young athletes. His career is full of personal and team achievements in Euroleague, his stats and numbers show his endurance in time and he is a leader feeding from his love for the game and from his mentality of always trying to find new motives.
He has won the Euroleague three times; he is been six times the best defender of the competition and two times the Final Four MVP. But he is also known in Greece for one more thing. He does not like to give interviews, he speaks very little and he avoids the Media, even though they are following him everywhere.
But when he has the chance to give advice to young athletes, to show a more personal side, he doesn’t mind to say what’s on his mind. This is the other side of this season Euroleague MVP contender!
How his love for basketball started? “I was still in school, in the city of Kastoria, and like all the kids I was playing football and basketball. In football I did not have a fixed position on the pitch; I just played in my neighborhood. In time I was more attracted to basketball. I was 7 years old when Greece won the Eurobasket in Athens. I just remember myself seeing the final on television and all the excitement after the win”.
When he thought for the first time that he could be a professional athlete? “It was after my transfer to Iraklis BC. It is also a matter of coincidences. When I started playing basketball, I was waiting for an offer, a chance. Finally Iraklis BC signed me. But I would never have imagined that I could go that far in my career”…
How much his life was changed when he left his home town of Kastoria for Thesaloniki? “Just think that a 19 year old kid from the country moves to a big city and for the first time he is leaving alone. It was strange, I didn’t know what to expect. But it was easy to adapt with the practices and the daily schedule of the team and soon I got a routine”.
Years have gone by and in 2012 Diamantidis is considered a part of the modern European basketball elite. Is he still working out alone after the practices of Panathinaikos? “Of course I do. When we have a day off, I go to the gym and practice mainly on my shots. I try to shot without a dribble. In the team practices I do the opposite, I shot off the dribble and when I work alone I prefer to do something else. In my age, that’s more convenient”.
On Tuesday the Euroleague play offs are starting and one more season is near its pick. How a basketball player of this level prepares for that? “I don’t change much; I do exactly the same things. I try to protect my body in every day life and I am careful on my diet. My girlfriend usually cooks for me at home. When that is not happening, I am ordering take away food, but not anything fating. I will eat chicken or some other meat with pasta. This is our diet”.
He never tries something else? “I try to avoid it! One day of every month I eat whatever I want and I will enjoy it, but nothing more. What I really miss are sweets. I eat one every week, but not every day”.
Is he anxious before big games? Can he easily sleep? “I call it stress. I have problems with my sleep and it’s hard for me to go early to bed, even when I am in the off season. I sleep very late. I think very much and I can’t relax so I can sleep early”.
How does he fight it? “With television and a midday nap. I put the TV on, I see something, I try to get sleepy and finally I sleep. The good thing is that before the games I always have time at midday. I will sleep at least one hour to get rested, even a little more than an hour”.
Does he have any lucky charms? “I am not a superstitious person. But in my game when something is wrong I lose my patience! I usually blame myself or my luck. But this is something momentary that just happens in the games”.
What is easier for the captain of Panathinaikos? Start chasing a new goal after a success and a big celebration or after a failure and a great disappointment? “Both of them are equally hard. If you ask for me personally, it’s harder to concentrate and work on a new goal after a big success. The first days it isn’t easy to focus in practice and do your work. But after a while, I try to find new motives, I see in front of me the new target and I start to work as usual”.
The Greeks are having a hard time. Dimitris is one of the lucky few. His hobby is his job, he is extremely successful and he has financial security. How does he feel about what’s happening around him? Is he aware of the problems that the Greek society is having? “Of course I do. Where do I live, in a goldfish bowl? No, I live in the same society, I mingle with other people, I hear my friends. I get depressed to see people suffering, not having jobs, getting their salaries cut, having survival problems. And I don’t like to see Greeks immigrating, because they don’t have the choice to stay and live in their home country. I imagine that this is what the crisis finally means. I have many buddies with problems and they are agonizing when they are thinking their future”.
In such a situation, does he feel luckier than many others? “What else I could say? I didn’t need the crisis to appreciate what I have. Thank God, I love my job, I am having a great time and besides the enjoyment of playing basketball, I have many other bonuses from that in my life”.
How does he imagine himself in a decade? Will he return to Kastoria? “The only thing that I really want is health. I try to stay on the present and be there for the people that are close to me. To be honest, for many years I believed that when I will be retired, I will return to Kastoria. But things have changed and I will stay in Athens”.
Which is his advice to young children that now are beginning to involve in sports? “I say to them to practice and to train their body and their mind. They can gain only good things from sports. You don’t have to be a pro or a champion. There are also other benefits. You get to be a part of a society, you make friends, and you learn how to be a part of a team. All those things make you a better person and this is the most important”.