Avdalas: “The Young Men’s medal is motivation”

One day left for his jamball Eurobasket U18 and the National Youth Team is in Tampere, where tomorrow it will play its first match in the competition against France (27/7, 13.00). THE Neokles Avdalas after the completion of the preparation and the friendlies given by the Greek team, he is ready for the continuation and the official ones. At 19, he already has the experience and the examples to understand that the results in the preparatory matches play a small role in what will happen in an event.

“We are happy with the friendlies we have given and which were very strong”, emphasizes the Greek forward and continues: “We know that we lost in some of them, but the Spaniards also had 0-3 last year and took the silver. Our goal was to see the mistakes, the video of each game and we are ready to go to Eurobasket. Every match, every result is good for us”.

The first opponent will be France, an athletic team with many solutions: “We know what kind of team France are, we have faced them many times. He has athletic players, he has height and we have to be correct in the details, box out well in rebounds, be good in defensive transition and play the passion that the Greek teams play, with energy and give it that little bit more. We will see the next two games when the time comes. Our mind is on the first game, it’s on the premiership and we’ll go from there, not underestimating any opponent.”

A few days earlier he and his teammates saw her Young Men’s National Team to climb the podium with third place in her own EuroBasket: “It gives us a very important motivation to see the Junior Men’s National Team win a medal. We see it and we also want to do something good. They’ve won a medal two years in a row and that’s great. They are a team like a fist and that’s why they succeeded. That’s the only way you can succeed and I think it’s something we will have as well. We are very united”.

There are also expectations for her National Youthexpectations which require proper management: “There are always expectations and pressure. We try to manage it and go with it in our mind that we will give everything for the National Team and coat of arms, not as favourites, but as a team that will fight in every game. Last year we didn’t go as far as we would have liked, but hopefully this year we can make it up…”.

The event itself demands a lot from the players, as the matches are consecutive and each result has a separate meaning: “Such an event is always demanding. He needs rest, sleep, although it is difficult after a game. The good thing is that we are playing early, so we will have time to rest. We should take care of our body with the help of our physical therapist Tassos (Papagiannidis) who is with us”.

He “carries” with him valuable experience from the completed season, taking time to participate in Basketball League: “Being in Karditsa has helped me a lot. It was very important this year, because I think I play more comfortably. It’s one thing to mark players your own age and another to mark older, more experienced players. I think I improved this year both competitively and physically and I feel ready for Eurobasket”.

The Eurobasket U18 it has a special significance this year, since it will also give away the tickets for the 2025 U19 World Cup: “Yes, the World Cup is a goal, but as we said, we are not looking at the end. We look at the beginning. The first game, then the next… First the group, then the round of 16 and we move on…”.