Family first for Crawford on Christmas

Christmas is traditionally a time for families, and despite playing on Christmas night with the Tasmania JackJumpers, Jordon Crawford is keeping in with that tradition.

The electric guard will be part of the first Tasmania JackJumpers side to play on Christmas when the team hosts South East Melbourne at MyState Bank Arena, and he has family coming to Australia to celebrate the holiday with him.

“I’ve got family coming into town and they’ll get a chance to watch as well. It’s a great atmosphere and I know Tassie is going to do its thing with everybody showing up,” Crawford said.

“I have my daughter, my mum, my dad and my two cousins.

“It’s always good when they get a chance to finally be able to watch me play instead of just being on TV and mostly it’s a mental thing to spend time with your family during the holidays – even outside of holidays.

“Just being around them, it means the world to you, all the little things.”

Crawford will be one of just a handful of players to be participating in the opening game of the Christmas night double-header who has experienced playing on December 25 before.

He says while the players try not to elevate the game, the presence of fans on such a meaningful holiday means the players can’t help but play that little bit harder.

“When I was with Westchester we played in Sioux Falls on Christmas Day,” he said. “It’s another day at the office, I think everybody else builds it up more than the players think about it, but it’s still great.

“People are taking time out of their day with their families to come and watch us, and that means a lot as a player because you have so many other things you could be doing on the day but you decided to come and watch us play.

“It gives you maybe an extra little boost to go out and play even harder.”

The clash between Tasmania and South East Melbourne will tip off on Christmas Day at 5:30pm AEDT, live on ESPN via Kayo.