BG Göttingen: Haris Hujic already had a basketball hoop in his baby bed

Haris Hujic prefers to eat curry dishes and likes the many Asian restaurants in Göttingen, but the Bundesliga basketball player of the BG Göttingen has not yet taken a vacation in Asia. “Bali and especially Japan are at the top of my list,” says the 24-year-old, who moved from Bayer Giants Leverkusen to southern Lower Saxony before the season started.

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The preferred holiday destination of Hujic and his family is Bosnia and the neighboring Croatian coast. His parents both come from the former Yugoslavia, but left their homeland due to the war. His mother came to Germany at the age of 14 and his father “in his early 20s”. “They only got to know each other here,” reports Haris Hujic, whose first name is not at all unusual. “There are Haris in Bosnia as often as in Germany Lukas. And my friend Constanze, who is studying in Latvia, has just sent me a photo that shows that Harry Potter is called Haris in Lithuania, ”says the basketball player, who grew up bilingually and speaks fluent Serbo-Croatian in addition to German.

His father, a basketball player, was involved in founding a new club in Lüdenscheid, where the new BG member was born. “Before I could run, I could throw, had a basket in the cot,” says the Guard about his beginnings. When he was four years old, he went to club training for the first time. “It was always clear that I wanted to play basketball because I liked it. I also had the chance to try other sports, ”says Hujic. He went to a tennis camp, played football with his friends and sometimes played volleyball in the summer. “But I had my friends in basketball. It is also the only club sport that I have played. “

Because Hujic always played with elders, he developed quickly. “I didn’t think about being a professional, I always played for fun and enjoyed the time. So one thing led to another. ”As a location for the national leagues in the youth field, Hagen was the ideal location for basketball players. He was able to play basketball close to home and was also an MVP there during his time at the NBBL. “That was perfect for me, I had 15 minutes to drive.”

After graduating from high school, Hujic signed a three-year contract in Nuremberg, left the club, from which the main sponsor then dropped out, again after a year and moved to Oldenburg, where he stayed for three years and also had his first brief appearances in the Bundesliga. From there he went to Rostock, but the game was canceled due to the corona, so he moved to Leverkusen, played a strong season with the Bayer Giants and even reached the ProA final, which would have been enough for promotion. The club did not take advantage of this opportunity because the structures are lacking. “They are currently in a state of upheaval, there are a lot of people who are missing who work in the background.”

The decision for the BG Göttingen was not only made because the team plays in the top division. For Hujic it was important to find a team “where I feel valued and where I can play and not just sit on the bench. I agreed that with the coaches, but also with myself, if it hadn’t worked out that way, I wouldn’t have come to Göttingen, ”says the guard, who sees his strengths in throwing from distance and in distributing the balls to his teammates. He is in constant contact with the coaches and would like to develop, “grow into a role and maybe grow out of it when everything works out perfectly”.

He feels extremely comfortable with the BG and “also in the city with its many winding streets”. He also likes that so many young people live here. ”He likes to go out to eat with“ the boys ”in town, which is good for the team. He doesn’t let his teammates get in the way: “They aren’t egoists, everyone is happy for the other. The main thing is that the team wins. ”

In view of the bumpy start with defeats in the first league game and in the MagentaSport BBL Pokal, Hujic, who then had to pause when he won against Telekom Baskets Bonn due to muscular problems, was by no means worried. “Perhaps these defeats in particular helped us, but it won’t be decisive until December or January anyway,” says the professional, who has meanwhile started a distance learning course in business and computer science. “I do that bit by bit on the side, it helps me a lot for the sport and to switch off. It is also important to me not only to see balls, but also to see numbers. You don’t end up getting lost in a tunnel. “

The BG Göttingen receives Ludwigsburg on Saturday at 6 p.m. Personalized single tickets for the game are available in the Tageblatt branches in Göttingen (Wiesenstrasse 1) and Duderstadt (Marktstrasse 9) as well as in the online ticket shop of the BG Göttingen. Only those who have been vaccinated or have recovered have access. Children and young people up to the age of 18 are admitted without any proof, but they all need a ticket.