A unique basketball event, featuring some of Europe’s top coaches, will be held from April 30 until May 3.
The 1st European Basketball Webinar aims to offer insights on different trends, strategies and methodologies by speakers who -in their majority- are professionals with strong ties to European basketball.
The list of prominent speakers most notably include: Mike Taylor, American head coach of Poland’s national basketball team, Aleksandar Dzikic, ex-assistant to head coach Dwane Casey in the Minnesota Timberwolves, 2010 EuroChallenge champion John Patrick and veteran German coach Dirk Bauermann, FIBA Eurobasket finalist in 2005. Overall, eleven basketball professionals from different domains (head, assistant and player development coaches, sports therapists and Performance Improvement Specialists) will deliver a total of twelve 50-minute clinics in the English language.
Dutch coach Thomas Roijakkers, who last coached the Saitama Broncos in Japan, is the person behind the event. “A lot of people, including us basketball coaches, are currently spending a lot of time at home or at least inside. Therefore, it is important to spend our time in a positive way and that we take our mind off the things going on in the world today. By organising webinars I would like to give us coaches the possibility to educate ourselves and at the same time bring a positive spirit into the basketball community. The focus is on European basketball. However, also non-European coaches who want to learn more about European basketball shouldn’t miss out on the webinar”, Roijakkers describes his mission statement.
In case someone misses a part, replays of the sessions will be available. Participation in the four-day event is free of charge, but those eager to contribute financially should be aware of the fact that all profits will be donated to the international medical-humanitarian NGO “Doctors Without Borders”.
The online seminar will open Thursday, April 30 with American / Belgian coach Brian Lynch explaining how offensive freedom can be combined with great responsibility, NBA assistant coach David Adkins from the Washington Wizards speaking about combination drills in the warm up and Mike Taylor exploring positive coaching as a means of getting the most out of one’s players and team.
On Friday, May 1, Finnish head coach Tuomas IIsalo will speak about multiplying and using advantages on offense. Next will be Serbian coach Aleksandar Dzikic (a FIBA EuroChallenge winner in 2011 and ABA League champion in 2018), who in 2005 (at the age of 34) became the very first NBA assistant coach with no prior coaching experience in the United States at either the collegiate or professional level, will analyze ways to build up team defense in less than a week.
The following day will open with a a Q+A session. Josep Maria Izquierdo, assistant coach to Zeljko Obradovic at Fenerbahce since 2013, will answer questions asked via social media. Moncho Fernandez, who is guiding Spanish ACB club Obradoiro since 2010, will focus Pick&Roll defense. 2010 EuroChallenge champion and 2018 Best Champions League Coach award winner John Patrick, currently at the helm of Ludwigsburg in the German BBL, will deal with team reloading.
The webinar will conclude on Day 4 (Sunday, May 3), when Dirk Bauermann, a four-time German League Coach of the Year, now Tunesia NT head, will break down different uses of pick & roll to attack defensive schemes; Swedish National Team head coach Hugo Lopez, NBL Canada Coach of the Year in 2016, will show how he gets his team ready to play two games with only four practices; Peter Sempels, a Sport Physical Therapist and Performance Improvement Specialist for the Belgium National Team, will look at physical preparation for basketball players in the off season.
The final word of the webinar belongs again to Aleksandar Dzikic, who will provide his audience with insights on the Euroleague know-how in a concluding Q & A session.
More information can be found on: www.thomasroijakkers.com/webinar
Full programme here: http://www.thomasroijakkers.com/webinar-schedule.html