In the past few days, the management of EuroLeague Players Association (ELPA) visited the city of Vitoria, which hosted the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague Final Four event, where the winning team of 2018/19 season was crowned.
During the Final Four, ELPA management conducted meetings with active and former players, agents and other stakeholders of EuroLeague Basketball.
Bostjan Nachbar commented on the thrilling season finale and talked about the progress ELPA has made in the past year. “First of all, I would like to congratulate all players who were participating at Final 4. I know that for some, their result was less than what they hoped for. Without any doubt, many of them will come back even stronger next season. As for ELPA – we’ve made some big steps since its foundation last June, but we are not stopping. To see players flourish on the court makes us work even harder. Growing support and recognition that the union has received in Vitoria-Gasteiz will definitely give even bigger motivation to management and our members, to continue with the work at hand.”
One of the most important things were meetings with the players that were in Vitoria during that time, especially those who are representing their teams in the representative board. They all gave ELPA encouraging words about the work already done in its first year of existance, and also about the improvements the organization is preparing for the new season.
The President of the players board, Gigi Datome, had this to say about the Final Four and the direction of work at ELPA. “Unfortunately for Fenerbahce Beko, Final 4 has been disappointing. But at the same time we are not forgetting the big picture, which is the work that has to be done in the area of players protection and collective representation. We like the direction in which the players associaton is taking us and we should build on what we have accomplished in our first year.”
The Managing Director of ELPA, Bostjan Nachbar, also visited young players that are participating in the EuroLeague Basketball Adidas Next Generation Tournament, at which he spoke about what it takes to become a professional basketball player and about the hurdles and traps that are hiding at various stages of such career.
