Euroleague Head Coaches meeting breaks new ground
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A comprehensive approach to helping improve the sport on and off the court was the subject of the Annual Euroleague Head Coaches Meeting, held on Wednesday and Thursday as part of the first Euroleague Basketball Institute Technical Week. A total of 23 coaches whose teams will participate in the 2012-13 Turkish Airlines Euroleague, either in the regular season or qualifying rounds, convened in Barcelona for a wide-ranging discussion of everything from rules interpretations to corporate social responsibility programs.
The agenda was split into two half-day sessions. On Wednesday afternoon and evening, the coaches spent six hours discussing with Euroleague Basketball executives off-court initiatives, primarily focused on the need to generate more content, more quickly, and increasingly focused on digital platforms for Euroleague Basketball fans. Other topics discussed included media relations, financial fair play, the Game of the Week, corporate social responsibility, the Mastermind Coaching program, and opponent scouting solutions and applications. The coaches were joined by the most successful coach in Euroleague history, Zeljko Obradovic, who has won eight Euroleague titles in his 20-year coaching career.
"It was great for all the coaches to hear such very well-prepared explanations of these subjects," Obradovic said afterwards. "It's especially important for the young coaches to see these issues clearly from the beginning of their participation in our competitions. They and their players need to push this process of attracting more and more fans to basketball into the future."
One of those younger coaches, Andrea Trinchieri of Pallacanestro Cantu, came away from the session convinced of all he heard.
"By far the best meeting I ever saw and participated in," Trinchieri said. "There there were a lot of important things on the table, and it's the first time I ever heard one boss talking to the coaches and asking the coaches something like this. I believe it's a very important step toward a better product. We are all part of the business. There's no clubs, coaches, league...it's all part of the same business. And we have to do whatever we can at this moment to be better. World crisis also touches basketball. Who will be able to give something new to our product will win everything."
Another veteran coach, Rimas Kurtinaitis of BC Khimki Moscow Region, agreed.
"I was once minister of sport in Lithuania, so I know from having my own meetings like this one, that it takes a plan with all the right explanations like we heard today, if you want progress," Kurtinaitis said. "Now, even I will change my vision a bit. As coaches we focus ourselves and our players on the result, but we all have to think about more than that for the benefit of the fans."
On Thursday morning the coaches met with the Referees Commission, discussing controversial topics from the 2011-12 season, watching videos of plays and planning together the points of emphasis for the 2012-13 season, which ended the five-hour meeting.
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Euroleague.net
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