Shawn Hopkins – season so far, big games in January and the Fountain of Youth
In Kotka where my ‘selfie friend’ Shawn Hopkins, and KarhuBasket, came for a Korisliiga game on Friday – KarhuBasket have been one of the top teams in Korisliiga over the last years and Shawn Hopkins is spending his first season with ‘the Orange’ after a spell abroad.
Friday was a productive day – which means that plenty of posts and exciting stuff to post in the coming days/weeks!
First the most spontaneous post, as I was in Kotka and dropped Shawn Hopkins a quick WhatsApp message to see when the team would arrive to the Arena and whether he could spare three minutes of his time (sorry Shawn, the interview was actually 3 minutes and 14 seconds!) for a quick chat about the season so far, big games in January and also the question about the Fountain of Youth .. .which he has apparently discovered.
Interview was done prior to the game vs KTP, which was crucial in Karhu’s battle to reach the Upper Group in Korisliiga as the league is divided into two groups (upper 6 teams and lower 6 team) after next week. And the Top 6 have already then guaranteed their place in the playoffs.
Karhu’s season hasn’t gone as probably expected before the season, and Hopkins says that this is a fair assessment of their season so far, but is quick to add that things are now starting to fall into place and game is starting to look more like it should on court and locker room – players are fitting into to their roles. It is easier to play and it is fun to practice as well..
The mid-season games that have almost a playoff feeling get the thumbs up from Shawn – and a sign of what the games mean is that yet again a FULL fan bus of ‘orange fans’ travelled from Kauhajoki to Kotka on Friday evening. He also adds that the energy in the team on the court and fans on the seats is different when the games mean so much at this point of the season.
His message to all Korisliiga fans is : Come and see the young Hopkins in action!
To this I had to ask whether he’d found the Fountain of Youth .. which he said he had… unfortunately he did not reveal the location of it….
From a photographers point of view, a great evening of action in Kotka – and definitely second Shawn in the fact that having these games that mean so much in January is really great system to play… unlike the NBA where each regular season game really doesn’t mean so much.
