When he was a kid, he was fond of fishing and pastry. His grandfather was a watchmaker's apprentice who saved his money to move his family from Georgia to Austria, to avoid the war. Giorgi had a hard time at first, not speaking the language, and especially because he was taller than his classmates. Children can be cruel to outsiders and to kids who stick out. Sadly, Giorgi was both. But he was a fun-loving kid with a quick smile, and a penchant for silly faces, and Monty Python skits. Once given a chance, he became something of an attraction on the playground, a veritable one-man show of silly walks, clown-like antics and faces and voices to match.
The teachers noticed, too, but especially, Tobias Boll, the young Mathematics teacher who also coached the boys basketball team. He saw in young Giorgi an energetic and physically dextrous child, who also happened to be 6' tall in 7th grade.
Tobias approached the boy, but Giorgi wasn't sure; when it came to sports, he preferred football and darts. But the football coaches always put him in the goal, and the darts coaches were all drunkards, as darts coaches are. Basketball had never been a consideration in his small town, though of course he had heard of greats like Otar Korkia and Levan Moseshvili, who had won medals with the Soviet teams. Even as he started to grow, he hadn't considered basketball as a option.
Tobias got the boy to practice, and showed him some funadmental drills, and the connection was immediate. Giorgi thrived in the freedom that basketball offered, and his flexibility, long arms and quick feet all worked to his advantage. And after every practice, Tobias had a box of fresh kada, purchased from a speciality bakery. Oh, Girogi loved those days, and finally felt settled in: silly games on the playground, basketball practice after school, and fresh kada while sitting under the giant beech tree, staring at the distant alps.
Or, at least I assume it went something like that...