Sedekerskis’ loud game putting quiet Nida on the map

SAMSUN (FIBA U18 European Championship 2016) - Tadas Sedekerskis' versatile game helped Lithuania into the Quarter-Finals of the FIBA U18 European Championship 2016. But it's a little surprising the forward's game is so loud given where he grew up.

After the Group Phase, Sedekerskis leads Lithuania in scoring (18.7 ppg), rebounds (11.7 rpg), assists (4.7 apg) and blocks (2.0 bpg). That ability to do everything well on the court has NBA scouts giving him long looks.

But Sedekerskis has a very quiet side too, which comes from his up-bringing. It takes him a second to realise he's being asked about his home town and not just maybe having misunderstood the question. Nida is not really the first topic of discussion for many people in this world.

"It's a very small city with less than 2,000 people. It's very quiet," Sedekerskis said of the village which is located on the strip of land connecting Russia near Kaliningrad Oblast across the Baltic Sea just off the Lithuania coast near Klaipeda in Smiltyne.

"Now in the winter if you walk down the street, you will be alone."

This is where Tadas Sedekerskis was born and grew up.

The strip, called the Curonian Spit, is only 3.8 kilometres at its widest and 98 kilometres long and is half Russian and half Lithuanian. Nida is located just north of the Russian border and is more known for its UNESCO World Heritage Site dunes than creating NBA talents.

"That's what's crazy about it. We have less than 2,000 people, so I don't know where it came from. Maybe because my family really loves basketball."

Sedekerskis started playing the game when he was 6-years-old. There was no basketball school in Nida but Sedekerskis said there was a "great court, like a small, new, modern arena for 500 people."

That is where he played pick-up against older guys. And when it was clear that 11-year-old Sedekerskis was pretty good against those guys, his parents decided to let him play in Klaipeda, which is about 50 kilometres away.

"I couldn't go to practice every day so my father would bring me there twice a week," he said.

That went on for about three years before Sedekerskis and his father moved to Klaipeda and he went to school there. On the weekends it was back to Nida and his mother.

"I miss the sea," he says in Samsun as he looks through the interviewer a bit. "Everyone knows each other. There is only one shop, no shopping center, no cinema. It’s just a small village, but it's really nice."

At 15-years-old, Sedekerskis needed something different and he signed with Spanish club Baskonia Vitoria Gasteiz in 2013.

"It was a tough decision but I felt I had to leave Klaipeda to get better. It was a great chance for me. I was confident in myself. For sure my mother said I shouldn't leave her."

Three years later, the 18-year-old Sedekerskis has already played at most of the major prospect showcases like Jordan Brand Classic, Basketball Without Borders Global Camp and FIBA European U18 All-Star Game at FIBA EuroBasket 2015. He has worked his way through the Baskonia youth ranks and already played in seven Spanish ACB top flight games.

One of the things Sedekerskis enjoys most about being with Baskonia is the learning he does from the team’s great players

"Andrea Bargnani is a great basketball player but he's also a great professional and knows how to take care of his body," he said. "I also learn a lot about defence from going at practice against Adam Hanga."

Sedekerskis leads a trio of 1998-born players who also played at the FIBA U18 European Championship 2015 along with Arnoldas Kulboka and Gytis Masiulis. Sedekerskis would love to add a third U18 continental title to Lithuania's trophy case. The last one came in 2010 when Jonas Valanciunas won the crown.

"Valanciunas had a great generation with great players but we are also very talented with great players. We are a basketball country and we have to believe in ourselves and fight, and I am sure we can do that."

Maybe Sedekerskis can give Nida another distinction. In addition to those amazing dunes, the village on the Curonian Spit could become home to a FIBA U18 European champion.

FIBA