Sten Sokk is a son of the legendary Tiit Sokk. His father won the 1988 Olympics in Alexander Gomelsky’s USSR national team. Children of probably the main star of the Estonian basketball followed in the father’s footsteps. They haven’t won the Olympics, but have played for the national team and Kalev, major club of Estonia.
Sokk Jr. came back to VTB League and this season plays for Kalev again. He talked with Championat before the game against Khimki.
– What were your first steps in basketball?
– Oh, that was years ago (smiling). It was in Greece, when my father played for Panathinaikos. Well, basketball has been a part of my life since early childhood. If your family member is a professional basketball player, you can’t avoid it. You sleep with it after lunch, you go to every game to support, you talk about it when you come home. All your life is hinged on basketball.
I started practicing at 5 years, when we’d come home to Estonia. And I had to practice with the elder guys. Long story short, that’s how my basketball career started.
– You must have tried something apart from basketball?
– Just a little. A bit of football, tennis, but these couldn’t be compared to basketball. Honestly, this is the only sport where I attended practices.
– When did you realize your father is really awesome?
– You can’t realize it before you reach 15-16 years. When you’re little, it’s just your father. You don’t know he’s a basketball star. He’s just a regular guy for you. Dad has always been a role model for me – really wholesome and modest.
In the childhood you don’t really think who are people around you. You can value these things later. You grow up, and the pieces come together. To answer your question, I’d say it was at the age of 16. That’s when I realized what and awesome man and player my dad is.
– You and your brother both are professional basketball players. How did you grow up?
– You know, we were not growing up together at first. I lived in Greece with my parents, while he was in Estonia because he went to school there. Half of our lives we lived separately.
We had been living together for about 10 years, and then he became a professional player and moved. And later I signed a contract and moved to Tartu. We’ve been living separately since then. We meet from time to time, but not that much. We try to stay connected, I really miss him.
– You’ve played in Russia. What is it like to be a foreign player?
– I’d played in Georgia and Romania before, so I knew what it’s like. It was a great sports and life experience. I’ve seen another side of Russian basketball. After all, VTB United League is different. Here you have the best Russian and foreign players. Plus clubs like CSKA, Khimki, UNICS always get the best.
Superleague surprised me with the high level of the teams. Young guys strive for the next step, and the elders know how to play and what to do. We played in that Dinamo with Trushkin and Zakharov, and now we’re all in United League. We were young and now we’re grownups.
