OT: Spurs at Basketball Without Borders

[G R E Y]

Read on Twitter

Read on Twitter

Read on Twitter

ITW Kendra Chéry: "Ana Dabovic, I watched her on TV, there I was on the court. She impressed me"

Kendra Chéry, 17, U17 World Champion, participated in the NBA Basketball Without Borders camp in Belgrade, Serbia. Her meeting with Gregg Popovich or Ana Dabovic, training and instruction ... The future player (3/4) ASVEL recounts.

Ladyhoop: What memory do you keep from these five days?
Kendra Chéry: An incredible experience. I ended up with players against whom I usually play. And there, we played together. It was amazing both on the field and out, because I discovered other basketball cultures. Nothing but language, it spoke English, Spanish, Serbian also necessarily.

LH: Tell us your days.
KC: Every morning, the coaches or players came to share their experience for 30 minutes. We exchanged with them, we could ask our questions. After the warm-up, we had individualized workshops, supervised by pro players or NBA coaches. They corrected us and advised us. And in the afternoon, we had matches.

LH: What do you remember from this experience?
KC: It allowed me to learn differently than in France. Learn from the players of Euroleague, WNBA, NBA coaches ... this mix of cultures is rewarding. It brings a lot. We worked a lot technically, they gave us very specific advice. What I really appreciated was that they gave us confidence. We also had a lot of free time so we spent time with players from other countries. Usually in competition, we cross, but we will not sympathize during the tournament....

LH: What is your best memory?
KC: When I spoke with Gregg Popovich. He impressed me. I really liked his way of talking, posed. It impressed me the way he expresses himself. He spoke of attitudes to have on the court. For example, on transitions, if we are in failure, we must not remember that but go back. On working hard too. The attitude, hard work, I already knew but that's what I remember from what he told me.

LH: Which player or player impressed you the most?
KC: Ana Dabovic. I did not know she was going to camp. When I was little, I was a fan. When I saw her coming, I became phew in my head. When I was little, I watched on TV, there I was on the court. She impressed me so it was strange. But the one I spoke to most was Nikola Vucevic because he spoke French. He advised me a lot on technical movements.

https://www.ladyhoop.com/fr/itw-kendra-chery-ana-dabovic-je-la-regardais-a-la-tele-la-je-la-cotoyais-sur-le-terrain-elle-mimpressionnait/

[G R E Y]

Read on Twitter

Congratulations to our talented gamer Gökşen Fitik, who has been selected as the "Most Valuable Player" of the #BWBEurope Camp in Serbia, in partnership with @NBA & @FIBA. #flybasketball

Read on Twitter

Read on Twitter

Read on Twitter

Best of BWB Europe Camp: Göksen Fitik
It was Gökşen Fitik, the "Most Valuable Player" of the 2018 European Basketball Basketball without Borders organized by the American Basketball League (NBA), the International Basketball Federation (FIBA) and the Serbian Basketball Federation.

Basketball without Borders Europe camp (Basketball Without Borders Europe), single young women who receive an invitation from Turkey with our basketball players Gökşen phytic was appreciated for her performance in Serbia and the camp was chosen as the MVP.

The successful young player received her prize from the legendary name Gregg Popovich of basketball, who coached the NBA and American National Team.

The evaluation of our FlyBasketball player BWB Europe camp is as follows:

"I am very happy to be in this kind of camping environment and I am ready to learn new things from the first day I joined the camp and at the same time I was excited by this beautiful opportunity and I had the chance to establish a warm and beautiful connection with basketball players from different countries.

When we went to the court, we divided into short and long first and we were working basketball drills for 20 minutes. When we started to practice in full, our athletes, as well as our coaches, helped us to learn some of the movements of basketball to the best detail. From the first day, I had the opportunity to learn a lot of things with seminars and trainings given by many experienced coaches and basketball players.

In the seminars held by the players of the cinema, and while our coaches were at the scene, we had the most enjoyable subject and we should be happy. There was also incredible energy in the public because everyone was happy and enjoying it. After leaving the stations and working on new moves and development workouts, we were leaving and playing games. At the beginning of each team were coaches and WNBA players. I took part in Ana Dabovic's team. It was very valuable for him to determine my mistakes during the match and share his experience with me. I can say that I am having the happiness of being in such a camp.

http://www.flybasketball.com/haber/bwb-europe-kampinin-en-iyisi-goksen-fitik-101

[G R E Y]

Israel's Avdija, Turkey's Fitik named MVPs of Basketball Without Borders Europe 2018

The multi-faceted, star-packed Basketball Without Borders (BWB) Europe 2018 finished with a flourish in Belgrade over the weekend.

Of the many talking points about the event staged in the country for the first time, one that's always been among the hotbeds of basketball, Israel's Deni Avdija scooped the honor of MVP of the boys camp while Turkey's Göksen Fitik claimed the award for the girls.

FIBA, the NBA and the Basketball Federation of Serbia (KSS), administered the camp with 63 of the top boys and girls aged 17 and under from 25 European countries taking part. There was also a referees' workshop and clinic for coaches, the majority of the more than 110 that showed up hailing from Belgrade and Serbia.

Campers had "an amazing all-round" experience, according to Avdija, who won the FIBA U20 European Championship this summer.

"I've made new friends, met new coaches that taught me a lot," Avdija said, "and I think it's going to be one of the biggest stations in my career. I learned a lot and it's going to help me improve."

He and many of the old continent's finest emerging players learned on-court drills from experienced coaches and players that will help their game skills. They were also taught valuable life lessons each day.

Fitik, a point guard that helped Turkey to a fourth-place finish at this summer's FIBA Women's U20 European Championship Division B, said: "This camp is special for us. We've learned about everything, defense, offense and we've made good friends...."

Other campers to receive awards were the MVPs of Saturday's All-Star Games. They were Kay Bruhnke of Germany and Denmark's Malene Pedersen. Thomas Exaucia of Finland, who got ahead on fast break and dunked early in the All-Star Game, received the High-flier Award. Poland's Zuzanna Kulinska and Italy's Edoardo Buffo won the Grit awards for showing tremendous determination and resolve on the court throughout the week. The winners of the 3-point Shooting Contests were Tarik Biberovic of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Russia's Veronica Pavliuchenko, the latter who drilled all 10 of her attempts from beyond the arc in the women's shootout!

There were also successful coaches, including USA senior men's national team head coach Gregg Popovich, who is also the long-time coach of the San Antonio Spurs and has led the team to five NBA titles.

There was an extremely well-received coaching clinic.

Patrick Hunt, President of the World Association of Basketball Coaches (WABC), served as one of the camp directors and said of the clinic: "I thought the coaching clinic was well attended. The four clinicians who did such a good job - Jacque Vaughn, Popeye Jones, Nick U'Ren and Andrea Trinchieri - all did a fantastic job on a range of topics.

"They gave them some drills, some plays, some methods and more importantly how to teach and communicate with players. I think there was something in this clinic for coaches at all levels. The Serbian basketball basketball coaches there were very grateful to the NBA, FIBA and the World Association of Basketball Coaches for taking the time to conduct the clinic...."

"Also the great thing about these clinics, particularly the one in Belgrade, is they are all filmed and they will be available through FIBA's coaching youtube channel as well as FIBA.basketball. So they are spread worldwide. We've had millions of hits on these youtube channels, coaches that are watching from all over. The important thing is it was fully endorsed by the Serbian Basketball Association."

http://www.fiba.basketball/news/israels-avdija-turkeys-fitik-named-mvps-of-basketball-without-borders-europe-2018

Read on Twitter

[G R E Y]

Read on Twitter

KSS Secretary General Dejan Tomasevic, proud of the results of the "Basketball Without Borders" Campaign held in Belgrade

Camp Basketball without Borders managed to bring over 30 former or current NBA players in one place, a record number when it comes to organizing such events, and in addition to the extraordinary response of the guests and other figures, they exceeded all the expectations of the NBA's front-runners and FIBA. This brings satisfaction to the Basketball Association of Serbia, the host of the camp, who took care of everything in the finest detail, and worked on organizing the European Cadet Championship in Novi Sad, preparing the final 3 × 3 tournament in Belgrade and other current things.

"I think we can be very pleased with the BWB Europe 2018, first of all after 17 years we brought this camp to our country. Perhaps it took them exactly 17 years for us to prepare ourselves as organizers for this kind of event. I have heard countless times from our guests that this is the most successful and best organized camp to date, with the largest number of names. Every BWB camp came around three or four, possibly five former and current male and female basketball players, and here we had about thirty active and former NBA players. Regardless of the fact that we had the European U16 Championship at the time of the camp, we managed to organize everything, with the help of many people outside the KSF. Transportation, safety, accommodation, food, public relations, everything was done at the highest level and we got the highest ratings. For KSS, it was important to work on one project with the NBA and FIBA, to learn something new and after all, we can be proud," says Dejan Tomasevic, Secretary General of KSS.

With NBA side over 50 people participated in the organization, not counting coaches and players.

"It's a greatly organized team of people. A good example of how tidy the details are is that seven were in charge of unpacking the goods they sent in boxes, which included sneakers, jerseys, t-shirts, balls ... We received from 30 to 50 e-mails per day related to menus in restaurants, for dinners and lunches. In preparation of the camp people from the NBA came to Belgrade several times, stayed here for a few days, and each time they were more and more convinced that this would be a good event."

However, they did not receive any special requests for guests from the NBA, such as Greg Popovic, Gary Harris, Denver Nuggets, Frank Kaminsky of Charlotte, Popeye Jones assistant coach, Indiana Pacers, basketball aces from the region and Serbia.

"The characteristic of all the great people is that they are rather modest and stand firm on the ground. Probably the biggest name, beside our players, is Greg Popovic, who is really great friends with Zarko Paspal. Whenever in Belgrade he likes to see things that are of interest to the ordinary world. And that's to go to museums, see the markets. It was Pala who was his good host, so they visited the museums, but he was also at the market of Kalenic and gave him the greatest impression on him."

KSS has been organizing the Junior NBA tournament for three years in a row, with remarkable success.

"Following the recognition of people from the US, it is the best organized junior NBA league in Europe. We've accumulated a lot of knowledge from these events, and applied them now. It's very hard to re-gather and gather all those people who have appeared on the BWB, but we have shown that we can. I hope we will not wait for the next 17 years to host the NBA stars in this format and I believe that Belgrade will very soon be the organizer of some great sporting event," Tomasevic concludes.

[G R E Y]

How's your French? L'Equipe has an article detailing Pop's experiences at BWB Europe in Serbia as well as his roots in the region. You have to purchase a subscription to get access, but there's also a handy photo of the print edition. Voilà!

Read on Twitter

https://www.lequipe.fr/Basket/Article/Gregg-popovich-pour-tony-parker-c-est-une-belle-opportunite/932340