Fired up by dad’s legacy
BASKETBALL is in the blood when you’re the daughter of a Harlem Globetrotter, but Townsville Fire’s newest signing Hannah Young took the long road in realising her sporting destiny.
Growing up in Newcastle after father Lewis suited up for Harlem’s most famous export, Young tried her hand at other sports and wasn’t initially set on following in those sizeable footsteps.
Yet despite being a relative latecomer to the sport, Young has already played one-onone with NBA star Ben Simmonds, spent four years in the US college system at Virginia Tech, had a run with Canberra in the WNBL and most recently a starring role with the Newcastle Hunters.
Now with the Fire, the 25year-old has made up for lost time.
“I was a swimmer and dad never pushed basketball ... I was late to the game, so I’m still evolving a bit,” Young said. “I’m a shooter, and that was dad’s thing, he was a really good shooter, so that’s funny, I think I got a little bit of that from him.”
Part of a new era for the Fire, Young will link with new head coach and her former coach Shannon Seebohm, who has the task of steering the Fire back into the playoffs in what has become a transition period for the side.
Training with Seebohm in the off-season convinced Young that Townsville was the place for her.
“It’s very exciting and I’m so happy to be here,” Young said.
“I didn’t really have any plans on where I’d go after the off-season, but after Shannon spoke to me about it (signing with the Fire), I was definitely like: ‘I want to go there.’ ”
“He’s an awesome coach and I wanted to follow him, so yeah, that was my biggest thing.”
While she doesn’t know a lot about her new teammates yet, Young, who averaged 40 per cent from three-point land for Newcastle to go with 7.6 points a game, predicted a solid season ahead for the star-studded line-up.
“I didn’t really know any of the girls, but I’ve heard great things about them and I’ve heard their work ethic is really high,” she said.
“And obviously I want to be surrounded by people like that, so that definitely led me here as well.
“I only (recently) had first session, and they all seem really good, so I’ll make my role somewhere.
“I like to shoot, so I think I’ll find myself on the perimeter a bit, and a little bit of the post, but wherever Shannon puts me I’ll be happy.
“I think this club is on the come up and wants to get back in the finals and hopefully we can do that.
“It’s a new coach, players.
“These girls haven’t played with each other before, so who knows, hopefully we can get back in the playoffs.” new