Next April 13 a campus in Tbilisi will begin intended for 160 youngsters.
The collaboration agreement between Saski Baskonia and the Georgian Basketball Federation, through the 5+11 Foundation will begin next April 13 with the inauguration of a basketball campus that will host a total of 160 young Georgians of ages between 14 and 17 years.
The campus will be directed by Borja Comenge. The technical will lead a group of four international coaches -Iñaki Merino, Ieltxu Aguinako, Carlos Cazorla and Josep Riera- that along with other 4 local coaches and two physiotherapists, will start the two-week long campus where work will be performed under the structures and methodology of Baskonia with the objective of detecting talent among the Georgian young players. “The first week, in which we will count with the best 40 players per category, will serve us for the identification of talent through factors such as skills, physical abilities and potential for the high performance”. Explains Jesus Vazquez, General Director of Saski Baskonia.
The second week will be for the performing of various physical tests, such as speed and vertical jump, that will be compared with the results of the professional athlete. “Amaia Oroz will be with us, psychologist of Deportivo Alaves, in order to help us evaluate the maturity and capacity for the adaptation to high performance of the youngsters”. After these two weeks the 16 best players will be identified and will join in summer the Baskonia International Campus in order to perform a specific work and after that “it will be analyzed if any of them has enough level for directly joining the structure of Baskonia with a scholarship” added Vazquez.
This first initiative will be complemented with the formation of four Georgian coaches that “will come from September to December in order to work specifically with our base structure and visualize first hand the way of working in order to establish contacts with the professional structure” points out.
The agreement between both entities, signed on the past month of October and with a duration of 5 years, will begin with this campus its first phase, as part of a plan that has as the objective of the selection and technification of athletes with the aim of improving the sporting level of their national teams in a medium-long term. Saski Baskonia and the Georgian Federation will work together in a strategic plan in which all aspects and factors to be developed will be analyzed: sports facilities, organization, competition systems, formation of coaches, professional leagues…
With this agreement Saski Baskonia pretends to establish a touchpoint with new players, new markets and approach future sports talent from that area. For its part, the Georgian Federation wants to learn, form and upgrade its competitive level thanks to this alliance.
