In this episode, Romail Gulzar spoke to Geno Crandall, a basketball player for Leicester Riders. He talks all about his life, career and the future of basketball in Britain.
Geno grew up in Minneapolis, one of the ‘twin cities’ of Minnesota. Whilst being a relatively large metropolitan city with well over 450,000 people living there, the place often gets shadowed by the northern giants such as Chicago, Philadelphia, and New York City. Geno said: “I think a lot of people from Minneapolis have a chip on their shoulder and feel like they get overlooked a lot. That applies to basketball too.”
Minnesota is also known as the State of Hockey–and for good reason. The cold climate makes the perfect environment for the sport which has become one of the most popular in Minnesota. But what caught Geno’s attention was basketball. Drawn to playing as it offered an opportunity for playing indoors away from the cold all-year-round. He spent his childhood in regular competition with his two younger brothers, and this only served to push him to be the best he could be in everything, which ultimately led him down the path of professional basketball.
Watch the full interview below:
