BASKETBALL: Trinity keeps life in balance

It's the trinity of family, faith and friends for Dave Langrell.
"My parents never forced me to go to church and from the age of 10 onwards I didn't. Now I totally do and it's a big part of my life, my Christian values," says the Wellington-born who has lived in Christchurch since he was 9 years old.
So when the Canterbury Rams franchise went down the gurgler in 2007 Langrell took up a teaching job at a high school as well as coaching the Canterbury under-19 team.
With wife Justine and 18-month-old son Toby with him in Taradale, the Hawks captain realises he's in the twilight of his basketball playing career and leading a nomadic life.
"I'm absolutely loving it. Realistically this could be the last year. Maybe next year I might play again.
"It's a little tough on Justine and Toby because they don't know too many people," he tells SportToday overwhelmed by the franchise's efforts to make them feel welcome in Hawke's Bay, including offering a gym membership for his wife.
While Justine strikes a rapport with people they will head back to the Garden City where their home and Toby's grandparents are.
"I've tried to not let it [basketball] be a full part of my life. I'm not just a basketball player because I've got other things happening like my faith, family, friends and other interests."
He doesn't want to end up on the scrap heap of players who persist until their joints creak and their bodies are broken although he accepts the 20-hour weekly routine of thinking, practising and shooting hoops has been part of the grind since he was 14 years old.
"It becomes a huge part of your identity," he says, confessing coaching basketball fulltime is his idea of a dream job.
"Even when I'm talking to [Hawks coach] Shawn [Dennis] about it, you know, you never know when your next job is and where it is.
"Family is huge for me - my wife and Toby - hopefully, there's more kids coming along," saying he has no qualms about closing the chapter on a playing career that took them through Asia and Europe.
"There's no way I'd try to teach fulltime and play, especially with a young family," says Langrell, who is helping out teaching two days a week at Hastings Boys' High School where Hawks teammate Czebalos Smiler is a pupil.
With a double degree in PE and B Com in human resources, Langrell says he has an "extremely bright" older brother Jonathon, running an internet-based business in Sydney.
"I think they [parents Gordon and Annette] realised I was decent academically because I ended up getting an A bursary at that stage. Jonathon was an A+ student and I was B, B+."
This year he quit his teaching job, keen to play for the Christchurch Cougars but couldn't equitably broker a contract so put his feelers out to North Harbour coach Judd Flavell and Dennis.
"Shawn was keen to have a veteran and he liked the way I played previously.
"The people off the court here were so easy and professional to deal with. They had gone out of their way to look out for my family," he says, considering it a privilege to have come out richer learning myriad life skills while gracing basketball courts.