At first sight, it might seem like a peculiar, unique life, that of a boy growing up in a family where the father is not just a professional athlete, but a true legend, an All-America in college, an All-pro in the NFL, a Hall-of-Famer at the end of his career. But in truth, this is not the case. “It’s all I knew growing up. If your dad is an accountant, a businessman, a plumber, you kind of just get used to it. I don’t know anything different”, Shavon Shields says of the huge shadow cast by Will Shields, one of the greatest offensive linemen in American football history.
Shields senior retired in 2007: in 1993, after being chosen in the third round, he came off the bench in his first NFL game. From the second on, he played 223 out of 223 games as a starter. He has never missed one game. In football, this is an incredible feat. It is obvious what Will taught Shavon. “How being a professional, taking responsibility, showing up and do your job every day,” he says. But play football? No, that Shavon didn’t do it. ” I considered it, I played for a couple years, but then it wasn’t a thing for me.”
And so his basketball career was born, carrying those lessons with him. And also a little bit of the North European culture of his mother Senia, who is Danish. “I think living-wise, it definitely helped because I’ve been over here, experienced the culture, things like that, it made the transition easier, it wasn’t much of a culture shock”, says Shields who first played in Frankfurt, then in Trento and finally two years in Vitoria.
The two-year period in Trento made him known to Olimpia fans. “I’m really excited, obviously it has been quite an experience playing here. I’d be excited to have the fans in the arena, be able to support us, and hopefully being able to put up a good display for them and win a lot of games for them,” he says. The memory of that famous game 5 in which he scored 31 points is still alive. “I wish we could have won, but sometimes things don’t go your way and you learn from them,” he says.
He did it enough to win the title in Spain, “It’s been great, we came up short two finals in a row, and finally I got to win the championship last year.” It happened in Vitoria, but immediately afterwards the Milan adventure began. “I have the same expectations every time you step on the floor. Enjoy the team, win games and win championships. Right now, I’m trying to figure this out. We played a few games, we are learning. I try to be as round as possible and try to help the team win”.
