Last weekend from 18-20th of October , FIBA Europe held its annual meeting “ Get Together” of U 14 Mini – basketball in the beautiful city of Prague –Czech Republic.
On the first day of U 14 GET TOGETHER – Mini-Basketball Convention and after the welcome speeches , held from the President of the FIBA Europe Youth Commission , Mr.Asterios Zois and from Mrs. Radmila Turner – FIBA Europe Youth Development Specialist , where they presented the schedule for the upcoming 2 days , all the participants from over 30 Federation were invited to assist a practical training session . The local Mini-basketball Coach of OSK Olomouc Basketball Club , Mr. Stefan Valek held a practice session with his group of girls , focusing on selective perception and decision making practice , training conditions based on footwork via small – sided games. He was putting emphasis on the Basketball game of quick switching from offense to defense where the selective perception (SP ) play a crucial role in the game and it can propel or hinder the player’s action and its success. He was selecting a variety of drills that skills in the same time footwork and conditioning.
The second day started with an analysis presentation of the ex- basketball player and great Czech basketball legend , Mr. Jerzy Zednicek about why Basketball is the ideal sport for young kids.
Mr.Zednicek spoke from its own experience along the years as a former basketball player and with the belief that TRADITION is one of the strength of basketball to attract kids to the gyms, and nevertheless basketball as a team sports develop social skills of a young player as a better person for the society.
After this interesting introspection , another referent was keeping the attention of all the delegates with a case study : Czech floorball !? – from zero to second biggest sport in Czech Republic !
Mr.Filip Suman was presenting the FLOORBALL as a revolution in Czech Republic because of its quick increase of memberships ( second biggest sports in Czech Republic ). Floorball is similar to indoor hockey , with 5 on court players and 1 goalie and the court size same like handball court.
Mr.Suman presented Floorball as an easy sports to start due to its simplicity ( simple equipment ; easy rules to follow ) , financially accessible sport , and its fast penetration into media events ( Facebook ; Twitter etc. ). He explained that due cooperation with schools , due the role of the family and friends this sport has become a new trend among the youth as something new and different , which make this new sport ( actually it’s dating since 1992 ) to be COOL ,BRAVE , PRESENT and ENTERTAINING.
But returning to our sport , that we all consider as one of the most beautiful sports – Basketball , the day continued with very constructive and informative workshops about the Mini- basketball in different countries , where the Coaches were discussing in preselected groups about the differences at the level of U 14 Mini – basketball between many Nations.
Nations with a huge tradition and success in basketball , like France , Italy , Germany and Slovenia , were presenting their successful implementation of Mini – basketball programs in their countries bringing new insights of perspectives to how Mini – basketball can develop and be promoted.
After sitting the whole day in the lecture room , the traditional basketball game in the afternoon among the participants and the President of the FIBA Europe Youth Commission and it’s already set up team , was a welcomed and fun way to end the day .
Sunday , after another workshop of discussion how to develop the European Mini- basketball network , almost all participants were on the same pace that FIBA Europe should collect all the information from each country about how they are conducting their programs , to establish a general and global rules for everyone in Europe , to establish a frame of age category for the U 14, to establish rules that are going to be for everybody the same . Also the participants agreed that FIBA Europe should prepare tools for educating coaches at this level too , maybe a FIBA booklet with basic rules in an fun way for the kids , parents , teachers or instructors , and why not to support and help with specific equipment according to this age group.
The conclusion of all was that this kind of meetings where the coaches and youth coordinators could interact with each other should happen more often in order to exchange their experiences , their successful programs but also the difficulties they are confronting with.
Carmen Nastor
