It’s good to have a choice of sporting careers; Randall Hanke, the latest addition to the Socas Canarias basketball roster, could easily have followed a path into professional golf but just grew in another direction. “Golf was a passion of mine back home in New York from about 7 years old, I played on the team at college but suddenly started to shoot up in height and went with my other love, basketball.”
Now a towering 6 foot 11, Randall is settling nicely in La Laguna and helping to push his new team’s promotion drive back to the ACB, Spain’s top division. Life has given Randall quite an array of choices; having a London born father gives him dual nationality and that has opened a lot of sporting doors. The pivot (shooting or distributing the ball with one foot stationary) arrived in Tenerife from a brief spell with Glasgow Rocks and already has some Great Britain team vests in his locker.
Meeting Randall and club press officer Marcos Gonzalez Perera at the Pabellon Juan Rios Tejera sports hall, I’m soon shown through to the court to get a feel of the close and intimate nature of the historic stadium. Last home game, a 81-67 win over Menorca pulled in 2,700 fans. Randall is impressed. “The fans here are great, they are very close to the action and really make themselves heard.” The banked seating is empty now but Randall proudly pulls on his number 12 yellow home vest and goes through a few moves, before sharing his early experiences with me.
“Sport was always big in my life, when I went to Providence University to take a five year business study degree I was able to combine basketball with golf and was playing off a zero handicap. As I got taller I concentrated on basketball with the college team and when I graduated last May I started looking at some professional offers.”
Try-outs followed in Greece and France but Glasgow Rocks made a firm offer and that suited Randall. “I had a lot of family holidays in the UK so that appealed to me and they are a good club, we played in Kelvin Hall in Argyle Street and most games were near 2,000 full houses. I had a contract clause to leave for a bigger club if I got an offer and Socas Canarias signed me up a month ago.”
Last summer will go down as a memorable one, that’s when Randall got the call for the GB squad too. “They were looking further afield for dual nationals and found me through college. I went to a training camp in Cobham, Kent in July and then went straight into two big tournaments the first in the O2 Arena against Turkey, Poland and Israel; and then out in Seville against Spain, Lithuania and Israel.”
The immediate goal for Randall and Socas Canarias is to gain promotion through the play offs. The top team goes straight up and the next eight go into two play off groups, this could mean a clash with Santa Cruz rivals Tenerife Rural, currently in 11th spot. The 70 year old La Laguna club is always forward looking and bringing on the next generation of players. This Easter they are running a basketball camp at Laguna Park and Las Torres sports hall in Adeje. Senior players and coaching staff will be encouraging young talent from 29 March to 3 April, full details at the club website.
FACT FILE
- Socas Canarias, Pabellon Juan Rios Tejera, Calle Leopoldo de la Rosa Olivera, La Laguna (just north of the bus station).
- Website www.cbcanarias.net Tel 922253684
- Tickets 10 euros adults, 5 euros juniors, 3 euros under 12’s
Next home games
- Fri. 2 April v Mallorca, 9pm
- Fri 16 April v Ciudad de Vigo, 8pm
- Then check for play off games
