Training at the highest level in sport: ISDE and ELPA renew their training agreement for professional athletes for another year.
Following on from successful previous editions, the Instituto Superior de Derecho y Economía (ISDE) and the Euroleague Players’ Association (ELPA) are continuing their agreement , where, through the university’s programmes, athletes will combine top-level competition with participation in training programmes based on standards of excellence.
Once again this year, ELPA members will be able to access the prestigious Global Master’s in Sports Management and Legal Skills, a Master’s focused on the acquisition of legal, economic, organisational, and commercial skills for sports professionals. This is a tailor-made programme for those who wish to move their career toward areas such as agency management, federations, leagues, clubs, associations, sports consultancies, training or event organisation, or even the sports equipment industry.
Last season, four players signed up to the training programme. Among them was ELPA president Tornike Shengelia, who was able to combine graduating from ISDE with winning the Eurocup title.
Shengelia, or Toko, as he is often affectionately nicknamed by teammates and fans, is a shining example of self-improvement and motivation both on and off the court. In a single season he accomplished two goals at the same time – he became a champion and a master’s degree graduate. This is yet another example that top professional basketball players can do more than just play the game. Due to a painful shoulder injury, which kept Shengelia off the basketball court at the start of the season, he is now back in the lineup for Virtus Bologna. He knows how injuries can change athlete’s perspective in a split second and wishes more players would look ahead to the future and life after basketball.
Both organisations are proud to continue with an agreement that will allow top athletes to plan their future, combining their sporting careers with university education, specifically designed for them.
In the words of Juan José Sánchez Puig, CEO of ISDE: “For us, it is very important to be able to collaborate with elite sporting institutions with the prestige of ELPA, which are committed to excellence in training players.”
ISDE offers a range of practical, innovative, and cutting-edge online educational programmes aimed at both players and managers. On the one hand, flexible course itineraries allow players to find the necessary study time to combine the fast pace of sports training, typical of basketball competitions at the highest level, with quality training. On the other hand, they are provided with the necessary tools to be able to work more effectively and efficiently, being trained in the new technological transformation and digitalisation skills required by today’s society and the world of sport in particular.
ELPA Managing Director Bostjan Nachbar was equally pleased with the agreement: “We are delighted to have a partnership agreement with such an outstanding university as ISDE, which will provide our members with a unique opportunity to obtain an academic specialisation while continuing to play basketball as professional athletes, investing in their personal and professional future. By successfully completing ISDE’s programmes, they will be well-equipped for whatever comes next in their playing career.”
ISDE, with campuses in Madrid, Barcelona, Asturias, and New York, is a benchmark in education due to the methodology of its training programmes, which employ new technologies intensively and replicate the working environments of leading companies and law firms. All this, in turn, provides interesting networking opportunities for students to develop their professional futures. The match between the skills learned at ISDE and the demands of today’s labour market mean that the acquisition of these skills is a successful path to employment.
