On Saturday 25th February at the Faculty of Kinesiology, University of Zagreb, ELPA Performance Advisory Board (PAB) presented its view on a very important topic of today’s European basketball – the congested competition schedule.
ELPA Managing Director Bostjan Nachbar started the panel with some opening remarks, followed by ELPA President Toko Shengelia and Vice President Gigi Datome, who explained the importance of PAB and their high performance support of players’ careers. Later on, in four different sessions, PAB members Francesco Cuzzolin, Mar Rovira, Jaime Sampaio and Julio Calleja-Gonzalez dove deep into the issues of congested schedule, described existing challenges and provided many forward-thinking solutions. Their knowledge and experience, supported by factual data, showed that the current congested competition schedule of EuroLeague teams should not only be optimized, but also be used to players’ advantage to perform better. The emphasis of the panel was on understanding the individual needs of each player and to turn the current scheduling issues into opportunities.
The event was concluded with a round table joined by former player and current Cedevita Olimpija coach Jurica Golemac, and former Croatian basketball player Gordan Giricek. They shared their views and experiences on dealing with the demands of a long season and performing under high-pressure situations.
The symposium (also streamed online) was attended by faculty students and by personnel from Croatian Association of Physical Conditioning Coaches, Croatian High performance Sport Center, European Physical Conditioning Association, Croatian Football federation, Croatian basketball Federation and EuroLeague Players’ Association.
