By Bob Strohm
bstrohm@wbcowqel.com

For many local kids shooting hoops in their driveway, the dream is to one day play against their heroes on the hardwood. Not only did one Galion native do that, but he can also add Olympian and coach within an NBA organization to his list of accomplishments.

Nate Reinking, who is second in points scored in boys Crawford County basketball with 1,702 points, is currently the head coach of the Canton Charge, the Cleveland Cavaliers Developmental League team.  Reinking, who graduated from Galion High School in 1992, played overseas in the European leagues prior to finishing up his career playing for Great Britain’s national team at the 2012 London Olympic Games.

Reinking spoke about his career overseas and why he decided to end his playing career following the Olympics.

“That was unbelievable. I mean, I ended my career that way because I couldn’t imagine anything being better than that pinnacle right there,” Reinking said. “When the program started six years before then we were lumped into Division B in Europe, and we qualified up over the years to the A Division, played in two European Championships, and then the Olympics. The way to end your career is going up against the best of the best and that is where it was at, so I decided to step down.”

As he was finishing up with the Great Britain men’s team, Reinking explained that he made connections that would lead to his coaching within the Cleveland Cavaliers organization.

“When I finished playing with the national team in Britain, they hired a new coach, and he was working with the Cleveland Cavaliers at the time. When we met he had wanted to know if I was interested in coaching, and wanted someone to bridge the gap between the new staff and the old players, and it was just one of those things, one of his staff took a different job, and he asked me to come on staff with him with the British team.

“Once that was established we met out in Vegas in the NBA Summer League, and he introduced me to people in Cleveland,” Reinking continued. “At the time he moved on to another team, but after I worked for him that summer in Britain I came back here and offered my services to Mike Gansey, the GM of the Canton Charge. He gave me one of my first shots here. I came on late as an assistant, and just kind of grinded it out for three years, and just learned the business from this side of it.”

Once he became a coach, Reinking went from player to teacher. His main objective is to prepare his players for the next level of competition. Reinking spoke about coaching in the Developmental League.

“The biggest reason we are here are to develop players and try to get them to the next level. Then you come across a lot of different type of people, type of players, and just working with people to aspire to get them to their dream, and help them in any way possible,” Reinking said.  “Just serving other people – it always comes full circle and it is a great opportunity to work at this level with those types of athletes.”

Reinking, who was announced as the Canton Charge’s Head Coach on Sept. 27 of this year, spoke about the most difficult aspect of coaching in the developmental league.

“Just the turnover. You don’t sign 10 players for the season and that is it for the season. There are guys coming in and out, it could be daily,” Reinking said. “My first three years, it might be a few weeks left in the season and half your team gets called up, or moves overseas, and you have six new players heading into the last month. So it is just the turnover of players, guys going up, down, getting assigned to you, leaving, coming back, and just keeping everybody hopefully on the same page and going towards the same goals.”

Reinking reflected on the different aspects from playing in high school, to college, to playing overseas.

“Each level, as you step up the competition and the degree of separation, is so small between the talent levels as you keep going up and up, and the competition became more difficult,” Reinking said. “Every step you make it up to, you have to raise your level of play, and just learn how each style is different. In Europe it was a lot more fundamental – you practice twice a day every day, and you grind out long seasons. Preseasons are four to six weeks, if not longer, before the start of the season. That is your job and you put all of your time and effort into doing that.

“In high school, it is just the relationships. You are playing with your teammates that you have grown up your whole life with in the same city, and you have the whole community that you have known since you were born,” Reinking said of his time at Galion. “It is kind of who you are built from is where you are from. My friends’ families in the community of Galion, that is the building blocks to my career, and that was highly for me.

“Then you move on to Kent, and you are out on your own for a while,” Reinking continued. “To me the whole game of and all of sports and basketball is not the wins and losses, it is the relationships that you build with the people, with your teammates, your coaches, and even the fans and friends that you meet. So Kent has a special place for me there.”

“Then you live overseas for 16 years from 22 to 38 years old; that is most of my adult life right there,” Reinking finished. “You kind of grow as a person and you see different cultures, every day, every new city, every new country. It is just a completely different challenge not only as a player, but as a person.”

Playing on the Great Britain Men’s National Team, Reinking went up against some of the best the world has to offer, however, it was one former NBA player that he said was the toughest to guard.

“In 2012, when we played the U.S. team, and I started the game on Kobe (Bryant), and that was by far the toughest person right there. That whole squad was loaded with (players like) Westbrook, and LeBron,” Reinking reflected. “To me it was one of the better teams that the U.S. Olympic team has had. So that by far was the pinnacle.”

Reinking noted that while players in the NBA get more recognition stateside, the European leagues feature players that are as high of quality, but go unnoticed by basketball fans in the United States. Reinking spoke about one of the best players without the name recognition here that he played against during his time in the European Leagues.

“Juan Carlos Navarro, who played for Spain,” Reinking said. “He was very crafty, very good guard, excellent shooter, and Spain has always been near the top right there with the U.S. They have won the competitions in Europe numerous times, and have been right there in the medal rounds in the Olympics. They are loaded with talent.”

While Reinking calls Galion his hometown, he confided that he doesn’t get back to his former city as much as he would like.

“I don’t get back as much as I would like, so it is home, Galion’s home to me. It is just a good feeling driving into that city,” Reinking explained. “I don’t get back as much as I can, but I try to get back and see friends. My parents moved a few years ago, which changes how much I get back.”

Reinking spoke about the possibilities of one day coaching in the NBA, however, he also added that currently he is content with where he is at.

“Right now I am just trying to take this job, and take this opportunity and lead wherever it leads,” Reinking said. “The NBA is always the next step typically for coaches coming out of this league, but I am happy where I am at, trying to get guys to the next level. I am just trying to do the best I can right now, and we will see where it leads.”

The Canton Charge won their most recent game Saturday against the Eerie Bayhawks (Orlando Magic) 100-90. With the win the Charge improved to 5-7 on the young season.

The Charge will next play the Greensboro Swarm (Charlotte Hornets) on Tuesday, Dec. 13 at The Fieldhouse in Greensboro, North Carolina. The Charge return home to the Canton Memorial Civic Center on Friday to take on the Delaware 87ers. Each of the Charge’s games will be broadcast on Facebook live.