The fourth episode of FIBA 3×3 World Tour 2012 series (WATCH IT HERE) focuses on one of the most charismatic 3×3 basketball players, Angel Santana, from Romania.
Well known for his abilities on the court and also for the joy and the fun he brings on and off the court, Santana tells his life story and reveals the root of his lifestyle.
„Organized 5×5 basketball has been a bit like a job to me. It’s doing a job I love, which not everyone can say, but at the end of the day it’s still work. 3×3 is completely different. 3×3 is something that comes from the heart”, says Angel Santana, who was born in Spain, but in the last eight years lived in Romania and now has a Romanian citizenship.
He was a real globetrotter playing basketball in United States, Belgium, Germany, France or Spain. Now, Santana is the best Romanian 3×3 basketball player, award received from Sport Arena Streetball (www.3on3.ro, www.facebook.com/sportarenastreetball), the main promoter for 3×3 basketball in Romania. He led the Romanian National Team to the eight-finals at the FIBA 3×3 World Championships in Athens last summer, where he hit the game-winner against USA in the group phase.
In the Istanbul episode, Santana speaks for the first time about the saddest moment of his life, the terrible plane crash from Madrid airport, Barajas, in 2008, where his sister, together with her husband and their three children died.
„It took a bit of that innocence we all have, of leaving things for later, thinking about tomorrow. I’ve never stopped playing and it’s been a catalyst for me going again and starting to clear my mind from any bad feelings I’ve got inside… ”, says Santana.
„I think about it sometimes, but now I try to take advantage of every minute as if it were the last and right now that suits for me”, adds the Romanian player.
After winning the Sport Arena Bucharest Challenger (http://youtu.be/dtmeQT7kIW8), finishing second in Prague Streetball Cup and FIBA 3×3 World Tour Istanbul and sixth in World Tour final in Miami, Santana was the only Romanian player in the Top 10 in FIBA 3×3 World Rankings at the end of the year. You can follow him also this summer, as he promised that he will come back to continue his challenge on the 3×3 world stage.
Photos from FIBA and Sport Arena Streetball
