The presentation of the EEC Youth Development Playbook

The Youth Development PlayBooka project that can be a guide over the years for the course and development of Greek basketball, was presented today in the hall of the Board of Directors of EEC.

The details of the guide were analyzed by the manager of the EEC National Teams and member of the Board Dimos Dikoudis, the managers of the EEC Development Program Nikos Stavropoulos and Kostas Tsartsaris and Kostas Missas who has taken over the development sector for girls.

Coaches and clubs can find the Youth Development PlayBook in the Federation’s digital registry apps.basket.gr.

Dimos Dikoudis (Member of the Board of EEC and responsible for the National Teams): “We are delighted to present this Play Book, the Federation’s coaching guide. It has been a commitment of EEC for two and a half years to provide a complete guide to both training and general basketball philosophy. This guide, the Play book, can be downloaded by anyone from the EEC registry. Every coach registered in the registry can download it and every club can have it with the aim of having a common philosophy and being able to play the same basketball. Our aim is for it to be adopted by coaches and clubs and implemented as much as possible, as we want to improve and develop the Greek model of basketball. Top Greek coaches, development managers, Federation coaches, the association of Greek coaches and Academics and the Federation’s marketing department have contributed to its writing. There was this need to give directions and develop the basketball model.”

Nikos Stavropoulos (Head of Development Program of EEC): “We wanted to have a common line with the development coaches in the district. We sent over 350 questionnaires across the district to developmental age coaches. Then we sent another questionnaire to top coaches in Greece about basketball played in Europe and what we can do as a philosophy. And so we began to evaluate the elements to see how we would design this guide. We wanted to be reliable and we also used academics from TEFAAs all over the country who deal with various fields. We aimed to design as a team an educational sports program that contained some things.

The first was the technique that the kids had to deal with and the coaches had to teach. The second part was the training tactics and the third part was the physical condition. And more basic was the values ​​program that the coaches should teach. The design had the coach, the athlete, the different age groups and we end up with the model that the kid should play basketball in Greece. Catching the coach, he should consider the responsibilities he has when the parent gives him his child. The rights of the coach and what the code of conduct is and most importantly the protection of the children. We have seen verbal, emotional and sexual abuse.

The second subhead was the athlete, as he is the cell. What should the coach teach him and what are the motor skills he should teach him. Every child is unique. A 4-year-old can’t do the same training as a 10-year-old. Then there is the age division, as basketball is now played from the age of four. We are already running the fun basketball program with Eleni Kalaitzaki

In mini basketball there is Mr. Missas who is responsible for directing the program. Then there is the racing part where the feds are involved we have designed what the kids have to do. In each age group there are elements of pedagogy, sociology and sports psychology. Then we go to the competition, where we look at what the goals are in each age group, the physical condition and then the exercise plan. In the end we come to the philosophy that was made based on the answers of the questionnaires. This is the structure of the entire guide that we worked on for two and a half years.

Kostas Tsartsaris (Head of the EEC Development Program): “The way we collected the information started with an extensive questionnaire, to legend coaches and academy coaches. We sat down to draw the conclusions and analyze them extensively. It is very important that we have such an important guide at hand. This guide is not a magic wand. It is an aid for coaches. This is a common line so that we are all on the same page about what we will see in the future in Greek basketball. It is important that the feds have the same images.

As a sport we perform a very important social work and through PlayBook children can take the values ​​and principles and keep them in the future when they go out into society. Not everyone will become a basketball player but they will get principles and values ​​that will be taught to them very early. Coaches should be more educators. We must teach children to strive for joy and play.”

Kostas Missas (Head of the EEC Girls Development Program): “First of all, we should analyze what is a teacher and who is a coach. A teacher-coach is one who teaches things to children and a coach is one who trains children what the teacher has taught them. The PlayBook is a resource that records and analyzes training methods that are adapted by age group.

It gives directions related to the improvement of physical, technical abilities and the development of children’s psycho-spiritual abilities. The purpose is to give a specific way of training so that the coaches follow the same for greater progressivity and development of these young ages.

I wish all the coaches read it, consciously embrace it and in the future the Greek basketball model will exist, as is our goal. It is the first time that a PlayBook comes out with boys and girls on the same basis and the same logic and in view of EuroBasket Women 2025 it is a tool”.