Interspersed by the Covid-19 confinement, the 2019-2020 season of the SIG Strasbourg reserve in Nationale 3 (NM3) was marked by the emergence of a raw talent: Nadir Hifi. At that time, nothing predestined the leader, only 17 years old, in the fifth division, to emerge so quickly among the professionals. All the ingredients were already there: crazy 3-point shots, unfailing confidence… But there were also school problems, doubts… His teammates, his coach at the time and his best childhood friend recount the phenomenon for Basket Europe.
“During confinement, we were at a friend’s house. Everyone was playing on the console, it must have been 2 a.m. and suddenly Nadir comes upstairs and I’m like, “He’s going to call a girl or something.” We go up, and we see him who was doing push-ups and sit-ups! »
What were your first impressions when you played with Nadir Hidi for the first time?
Younes Abidallah, his teammate at SIG Strasbourg in 2019-2020 :
“Nadir, I met him at the citadel, the field where all the Strasbourg basketball players meet in the summer. He was a little young man like everyone else, not necessarily better than the others, at that time in In any case, when I arrived, he was already playing, and when I left he was still playing. Then he went to the training center in Lille and when he came back, he had progressed enormously, especially during the summer. that summer, every summer he was progressing When he arrived in Nationale 3, he was already very, very good technically. He was very young but I remember, he had big matches with more than 30 points. , he carried the team. He had this little touch of madness, this speed and this technical talent.
Charles Mba Tankou, teammate at SIG Strasbourg in 2019-2020 : “What stood out to me was his aggressiveness on the field. His main quality was being very good on drives, on percussion and on fast play. It was pleasant to playing with him, he was also good on pick and roll, I play inside so he gave me very good passes with him, I knew I was going to have balls.
Antoine Marx, teammate at SIG Strasbourg in 2019-2020 :
“When I was in NM3, he was in team 2, and he played when he had opportunities with the injured from our team (1). Basically, he was still a cadet but the coach made him trust, he gave him his chance little by little.”
Daniel Meyer, coach of the NM3 squad of SIG Strasbourg in 2019-2020 : “I was his coach in U15 and when he started playing with the seniors. The first time I saw him play, he was youngest, you could see that he had talent. He does things that others don’t, he had an ease in adapting to situations.”
