Stiri Cupa României Masculin

Quincy Harding, from the survivor of a shooting to working at a fast-food restaurant and now settling with professional basketball

Quincy Harding, from the survivor of a shooting to working at a fast-food restaurant and now settling with professional basketball

Quincy Harding, the shooting guard of CSM Mediaș, was one of the pleasant surprises of the Romanian National Men's Basketball League, Group B. The American basketball player is in his first professional season but his story of how he got here is an impressive one.

Born on June 13, 1996 in Colorado Springs, Quincy Harding spoke to baschet.ro in an exclusive interview in which he told us about how he started playing basketball and how he fell in love with this sport.

„I have been playing basketball since I was 4 years old. I used to go to the park with my uncles. Watching them I just felt the love for basketball. I grew up playing at the park called Hillside” with my little brothers. During the summer we used to walk up to the park to shoot and play all day long. During my highschool years I used to wake up at 5.00 am to catch the bus to my highschool. Then, at 5.30 am I had a workout every morning in my highschool gym. My goal was to make 250 shots before the school day started at 8 am. After school I would go right to Hillside park to shoot more. I didn’t make the varsity team until my junior year in highschool. A coach by the name of Al Blanc came in and saw how bad I wanted to play so he saw how hard I worked and he believed in me.”

For "Q", his love for basketball and dedication were not enough and he had to face a lot in college basketball. He only played in the last two years when he was eligible, junior year and senior year, but the experience at Western College was not a happy one until the end.

„I got only one offer to go to college. That was a junior college and the offer was from Otero Junior College. I went there but it didn’t end up working out for me so I decided to leave and go to a school in Roseburg, Oregon called Umpqua Community College. I never played there, so I ended up not getting any offers from any university schools. I was at home for a year and a half, working at Carl`s Junior, a fast food restaurant in the US. I was working there for a while but I was always in the gym working non-stop. An opportunity came from Western State Colorado University. So, I went there, played my junior year really well and made all-conference team. Senior year came and I was doing great, averaging 24 points per game and leading the conference in scoring. Half way through the season I was cut from the team. For whatever reasons that I don`t know till today.”

The road to college basketball was close to bring his death. At Umpqua Community College, Quincy was involved in a shooting and the fact that he was new to that university and he didn't know the campus so well saved his life, as he told us:

„It was the second day of school. The guy that was shooting was in my classroom. I was supposed to be in that classroom but I happened to be running late because I didn`t know the campus. I was with one of my teammates, he didn`t know the campus pretty well either. We just heard the shots fired on campus but we didn`t think of anything bad. Very soon we turned the corner and saw him shooting everyone in that area. We had to run not to get hit. He killed nine persons.

I just believe that the grace of God allowed me to go through something like this. That is why I am taking life so serious. And I am always grateful that I got another opportunity to presume my career and do what I love to do.”

Quincy told us how this experience, difficult to imagine in our country, changed him:

„Yes, for sure. I never forget my granny`s face when I told her that I survived that shooting. She looked scared for me and it made me realize that life is too short to complain about things you can`t control. That was the moment when I started to go hard, not just in basketball, but in my love for family, my love for people, to become a better person overall. Yes, for sure I definitely do.”

Quincy Harding also talked about how much it counted for him the fact that he received an offer to become a professional and how he went through the period when his career was  in jeopardy:

„It was a good thing for me. I just told to my granny that I still want to go pro because I worked hard for it and still love basketball. I just felt like my career was coming to an end after I got cut. I didn’t have any real stats for a professional program to want to pick me up. When I got cut the first person I called was my granny and all I could do was cry, because it felt like everything I worked so hard for was taken from me. My mother, my granny and my uncle told me that if I wanted to still play professionally I should keep chasing it just like I chased it when I wanted to be a college athlete. I stayed in the gym ready. I got passed up by so many agencies but one in particular had faith and believed in me. ACD agency owner Chris Gullen gave me an opportunity and I signed with him. I have the upmost respect for Chris because he gave me an opportunity when no one else would take a chance on me. When the opportunity came I was ready. I've been preparing myself since I was little.”

Asked about the impact of European basketball on him, Quincy said:

„I am just trying to adjust to the playing style from college to the pace of the game here, to the physicality. I am starting to get used to it. It was a good half of season for me. My main focus is to get 1% better everyday.”

foto: sbsport.ro

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