Editing Dirk Nowitzki (section)

==Early life==
Born in [[Würzburg]], Germany, Dirk Werner Nowitzki comes from an athletic family: his mother Helga ({{née|Bredenbröcker}}) was a professional basketball player and his father Jörg-Werner was a [[handball]] player who represented [[Germany men's national handball team|Germany]] at the highest international level.<ref name="sauer1220">{{cite book|title=[[Dirk Nowitzki&nbsp;– german wunderkind]]|last2=Reisner|publisher=CoPress Munich|year=2004|isbn=3-7679-0872-7|pages=12–20|last1=Sauer}}<!--|access-date=June 15, 2011--></ref> Helga was a member of the [[Germany women's national basketball team|West Germany national team]] that participated at the [[EuroBasket Women 1966|1966 EuroBasket Women]].<ref>{{cite web |title=1966 West Germany 10 - Helga Nowitzki|url=https://archive.fiba.com/pages/eng/fa/player/p/pid/76690/sid/2279/tid/288/_/1966_European_Championship_for_Women/index.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220602161619/http://archive.fiba.com/pages/eng/fa/player/p/pid/76690/sid/2279/tid/288/_/1966_European_Championship_for_Women/index.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=June 2, 2022 |website=fiba.basketball |accessdate=2 February 2019}}</ref> His older sister Silke Nowitzki, a local champion in track and field, also became a basketball player and now works for the NBA in International TV.<ref name=nbabio/><ref>Sauer, 30</ref>

Nowitzki was a very tall child; most of the time he stood above his peers by a foot or more.<ref name=sauer1220/> He initially played handball and [[tennis]]. He managed to become a ranked junior tennis player in the German youth circuit, but soon grew tired of being called a "freak" for his height and eventually turned to basketball.<ref>Sauer, 14–17</ref> Watching the [[1992 United States men's Olympic basketball team|1992 U.S. Olympic basketball "Dream Team"]] also caused Nowitzki to gravitate towards basketball.<ref name="crain">{{cite book |last=Crain |first= Zac|author-link= |date= June 2021|title=I See You Big German: Dirk Nowitzki and Dallas |url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/I_See_You_Big_German/MNPnDwAAQBAJ?hl=en |location= |publisher= [[Deep Vellum Publishing]]|page= |isbn=9781646050369}}</ref> After joining the local [[DJK Würzburg]], the 15-year-old attracted the attention of former German international basketball player [[Holger Geschwindner]], who spotted his talent immediately and offered to coach him individually two to three times per week. After getting both the approval of Nowitzki and his parents, Geschwindner put his student through an unorthodox training scheme: he emphasized shooting and passing exercises, and shunned weight training and tactical drills, because he felt it was "unnecessary friction".<ref name=Sauer2022>Sauer, 20–22</ref> Furthermore, Geschwindner encouraged Nowitzki to play a musical instrument and read literature to make him a more complete personality.<ref name=Sauer2022/>

After a year, the coach was so impressed with Nowitzki's progress that he advised him, "You must now decide whether you want to play against the best in the world or just stay a local hero in Germany. If you choose the latter, we will stop training immediately, because nobody can prevent that anymore. But if you want to play against the best, we have to train on a daily basis." After pondering this lifetime decision for two days, Nowitzki agreed to enter the full-time training schedule, choosing the path to his eventual international career. Geschwindner let him train seven days a week with DJK Würzburg players and future German internationals [[Robert Garrett (basketball)|Robert Garrett]], [[:de:Marvin Willoughby|Marvin Willoughby]], and [[Demond Greene]], and in the summer of 1994, then 16-year-old Nowitzki made the DJK squad.<ref>Sauer, 22–24</ref>