German prospect Davi Remagen and his family roots to Pelé
One of Germany's biggest prospects is 2007-born Davi Remagen from RheinStars Köln. The youngster has taken the German youth ranks by storm and actually has a family connection to the great Pelé.
Former Brazilian star Pelé meant so much to the sports world as one of football’s biggest legends. But his aura had a different special meaning for Davi Remagen, one of Germany’s biggest basketball talents.
The 15-year-old Remagen, who is one of the country’s top prospects from the 2007-born class, is related to the recently-passed icon.
The setting is the Frankfurt Ballsporthalle and Remagen had just taken the court after Sunday’s German U16 Jugend Basketball Liga (JBBL) Final to accept the Most Valuable Player award for the 2022-23 JBBL season. The RheinStars Köln guard averaged 31.7 points, 12.7 rebounds, 6.3 assists and 2.7 steals in the season and guided his club to the JBBL Final Four for the first time - taking place in Frankfurt.
A day earlier, Remagen and his Köln team battled with reigning - and eventual champions - ALBA Berlin in the Semi-Finals with Berlin prevailing 84-79. Remagen put on a spectacular show with 41 points, 8 rebounds, 5 assists and 6 steals. But it was not enough as JBBL Final Four MVP Mathieu Grujicic collected 35 points, 10 rebounds and 3 assists in the victory. The NBBl/JBBL league even titled their report on the game: “Berlin bezwingt die ‘Remagen RheinStars’ (Berlin subdue the ‘Remagen RheinStars’).”
“I get excited,” Remagen says about a back-and-forth game like that against Grujicic. “That’s what you practice for, that’s what you play for - to compete against the best. It is just great to have a player like that near me so I can play against him and see where my level is at.”
Going into this chat sitting in the second row behind the benches, the interviewer didn’t have much background information about Remagen. He won’t, after all, turn 16 until July 9 and is not yet a well-known name in the German basketball scene. In fact, this interview is only the third one he has done so far in his young carerer - and this one in English. There was something that stood out in research though: Davi Remagen’s TikTok profile included a Brazilian flag.
When Remagen walked into the arena with the rest of the RheinStars Köln team on the day of the Final, it could be seen from across the court that he was wearing a Brazilian football shirt - with that standout Brazilian "canarinho (canary)" yellow color. That meant of course he had to be asked about Brazil.
Remagen actually covered up the shirt during the award ceremony with a RheinStars sweatshirt. But when asked about it during the interview, Remagen pulled the sweatshirt up and showing was the face of Pelé.
“What is the connection to Brazil?” Remagen is asked.
“My mom is Brazilian and I speak Portuguese fluently and everything. I think the first time I was in Brazil was when I was 6 months old. I always go back there to see family. The whole side of my mom’s family lives in Brazil.”
And if he likes football?
“Not that much of a fan. I like playing all sports. But I don’t watch it. But my mom’s family is a big soccer family.”
And Pelé? “It’s my mom’s uncle. He’s my great uncle.”
The interviewer had talked to hundreds of players during his journalism career, but rarely had such a curveball come.
Tell us more about the connection with Pelé: “I used to see him every time I went to Brazil which was about once a year. To me it was never like I was spending time with Pelé the soccer player. I just liked spending time with “Tio Dico” (“Uncle Dico” - ‘Dico’ being Pelé’s original nickname) because he was fun to be around and I always had something to laugh about.”
Pelé was such a public persona and beloved around the world, and Davi Remagen experienced him as family.
“I remember talking about and watching all kinds of sports with him and my grandpa who also played soccer at a very high level. Those were definitely one of the best moments I shared with him.”
And what about sports lessons - after all, Pelé was Pelé.
“He always said that the most important things in sports are discipline and believing. You always have to believe in yourself and in your ability and keep working on your craft.”
That wasn’t always easy for Remagen, whose father played the game recreationally and had Davi basically walking around with a ball in his hands as a toddler. While he got his love for basketball from his father, one could argue his body skills and dancing on the court come from his mother Debora, whose mother Mária Lúcia Arantes do Nascimento Magalhães was Pelé’s younger sister.
Debora was - and still is - a professional jazz, modern, Afro dancer and was working for a TV show in Brazil when in 1997 Debora and her choreographer got an invitation to show their work in Cologne. She met Wolfgang Remagen - Davi’s father - and decided to stay.
Back to Davi and his basketball quest, Remagen basically missed the previous three seasons before 2022-23 due injuries and the Covid-19 pandemic before finally getting and staying fit for this season.
The issues started in the 2019-20 season as Remagen was experiencing knee pain. He fought through the discomfort in the year. The 2020-21 season was a lost campaign as youth and amateur basketball was not played in Germany due to the pandemic. The pain was still there though.
Remagen started the 2021-22 season but decided to sit out pretty early and hope that rest could correct the problem. After nine months, Remagen returned to play the final five games of the season. He underwent surgery in May 2022 to remove some loose bodies of cartilage in the knee. And the problem had finally been solved and he was painfree.
“I had knee pain all the time. I couldn’t practice right. I couldn’t run right. I’m known for being a fast and dynamic player and those three years were really tough for me because I couldn’t do it because of my knees. It was also mental part to get back to the level I am at,” Remagen admitted.
“I just started working more on my body. The whole year (2021-22) I was out I started doing conditioning and strength work to be more stable and stronger and not be so injury prone.”
Finally back on the court feeling like he knows he can play, Remagen made up for lost time and tore up the JBBL, starting the 2022-23 season with 46 points, 24 rebounds, 5 assists, 2 steals and 2 blocks against Giessen.
He also collected 42 points, 9 rebounds, 7 assists and 4 steals vs Frankfurt and had 49 points, 7 rebounds, 2 assists and 5 steals against Leverkusen.
Remagen showed he can step up in big games as well, producing one of four triple-doubles during the season in the Quarter-Finals against Jahn München with 36 points, 4 rebounds, 15 assists and 13 steals - the second time during the season he swiped 13 steals in a game.
Besides dominating the JBBL, Remagen also played 15 games in the German third division ProB for RheinStars pro team. He averaged 5.1 points, 1.5 rebounds, 0.9 assists and 0.8 steals in 16 minutes per game. And he scored in double figures twice. Playing against adults - as a 15-year-old.
“It was a great experience just because of playing against older and stronger guys. That was probably the hardest part,” he said. “I had to shove my way through everything. I couldn’t just run straight forward. Everything was way harder. And the older more experienced players give you advice on everything in practice. And it also gave me a better court vision because in the ProB level we have stronger, faster players. The players in the JBBL are slower, so it gave me an advantage in the JBBL.”
When asked what it shows about him that he won the JBBL season MVP award, Remagen said: “I’m a hard worker. I know last year I was hurt and out the whole season. So I grinded the whole summer and that just shows that hard work pays off.”
Remagen’s next chance to show how his hard work has paid off is the up-coming FIBA U16 European Championship 2023, where Germany have a chance to reach the FIBA U17 Basketball World Cup 2024. That would be the first time Germany would qualify for the cadet world championship. Germany hosted the first U17 World Cup in 2010 in Hamburg, but they did not qualify for it from the 2009 U16 European Championship, where they finished 11th.
Remagen looks forward to the prospect of playing at this summer’s U16 European Championship, saying: “It’s a great feeling. Just to play with those guys - Ivan (Crnjac from Eintracht Frankfurt/Fraport Skyliners), Mathieu (Grujicic). Just knowing that I can throw them a pass and know it’s in good hands. He’s not going to do anything crazy. I was hurt last year and I couldn’t play, so this is my first time (with the national team) so I am very excited to compete on the European level.”
And what about playing for U16 coach Dirk Bauermann, who coached Germany’s national team during the high point with Dirk Nowitzki from 2003 to 2011 and won silver at the FIBA EuroBasket 2005 as well as coaching the national teams of Poland, Iran and Tunisia, the latter whom he guided to the FIBA AfroBasket 2021 title.
“I think you can learn a lot from him because he has a lot of experience,” Remagen said of Bauermann, who also won nine German league crowns with Bayer Leverkusen and Brose Baskets Bamberg.
“I think that he is one of the really big talents, no doubt. With him and (ALBA Berlin’s) Jack (Kayil) we have to excellent talents at the point guard position,” Bauermann said about Remagen. “He really developed a lot under (RheinStars youth coach) Zoran (Kukic), he got more mature in his game understanding. He is a controlled player, much better at that now. He doesn’t just play at a high tempo. He knows he has to change the pace at times. He is also an outstanding athlete but more importantly he has the game in his DNA, he does instinctive things correctly that you cannot teach. And he’s a real competitor. He competes really really hard. It is good to see how a kid will rip out his heart and try everything to win a game.”
Bauermann also addressed one of the trends for top European talents to go abroad - to top Spanish clubs or USA or what have you - and said Remagen doesn’t need to worry about that.
“I think he can get everything he needs in Germany. I am not a fan of youngsters going abroad because there are so many good programs now who are playing at a high level. I don’t see any reason for someone at his age to go abroad.”
Playing in a European Championship is one thing, but Remagen admitted it would be really special if he could help Germany reach the U17 World Cup next summer.
“It would mean a lot. And then to come back next year. I love to compete and it would be great to see how I am going to play on a global level. I have seen some clips of some of the USA U16 team. All of them are 6-8 or something. They are beasts. It would be fun to compete against those guys and see what difference there is between USA and Europe.”
Remagen still has a lot of work to do, but he is laying the foundation for great things. Something he only needs to look within his family and the great Pelé for more inspiration.