YOUTH COMMISSION MEMBERS

President:

Mr. Asterios Zois (GRE)

Vice-President:

Mr. Jouko Vuolle (FIN)

Members:

Mr. Tor Christian Bakken (NOR)

Mr. Simone Cardullo (ITA)

Mr. Paul De Coster (BEL)                                                                  

Mr. Alberto Gomez (ESP)

Ms. Natasha Hrisenkova (SVK)

Mr. Tone Krump (SLO)

Mr. Lucien Legrand (FRA)

Mr. Pétur Hrafn Sigurđsson (ISL)

Mr. Ingo Rolf Weiss (GER)

The importance of Youth basketball in Europe is more than obvious for everybody who is involved with basketball and loves it. It is the Youth, the new generations, that will take over and allow our sport not only to survive but also to further develop and increase its popularity in the future.

The role of FIBA Europe in this respect is crucial. If all European National Federations have their programmes for producing their new players, the ultimate blooming of tomorrow’s big stars takes place at the FIBA Europe Youth Competitions. After having been discovered and formed in their countries, it is at the International level that the talented young players can really come to contact with other high level players and measure their skills, assess their capacities and gain valuable experiences.

This is why each year FIBA Europe organises an impressive number of Youth Competitions – in 2003 alone we had, in addition to the 2 European Championships for Cadets and Cadettes’ final rounds, more than 30 other official Youth competitions (qualification tournaments, challenge rounds, small countries, bam-passerelle and mini-basket competitions), involving practically all European countries.

At world level, the results of the European teams as well as the individual performances of the European players prove that the European system for the production and formation of new players works very well. In fact, at all World Championships for Youth categories the European teams climb practically always on the podium and often on its highest step, while several new basketball players-stars emerge every year in our continent.

Within FIBA Europe, the body responsible for all Youth activities, ranging from mini basketball to the Under 20 age categories, is the Youth Commission. The main task of this Commission is to follow and study the Youth activities and elaborate proposals in order not only to preserve the important legacy of the past, but also to further develop Youth basketball and adapt it to the modern needs and possibilities.

For this, at the beginning of its term of office – that extends from May 2002 until the 2006 elections - the Youth Commission established a 4-year Action Plan which serves as a guide for its work. The main issues that have been or are currently being dealt with by the Youth Commission are the following:

• Radical reform of the official Youth competitions, so as to have a European Championship played every year in all three categories (U20, U18 and U16), boys and girls.
• Development of the activities in the U14 categories so as to involve as many kids as possible, building on past experiences and taking into account the quite specific features of this age category.
• Improvement of the monitoring of the various Youth Competitions and establishment of  those tools that will help improve their organisational efficiency and thus their overall results.
• Elaboration and feasibility study of possible new activities.

It must be stressed that the Youth Commission is fully aware of the vital and irreplaceable role – usually ungrateful - of the thousands of people in Europe who work earnestly with the Youth programmes within the National Federations or the individual Clubs. The Youth Commission pays tribute to these people and considers that it is necessary to have an open interactive communication with them.

This is why the Youth Commission has launched the FIBA Europe Youth Network (FEYN), which is based on the possibilities offered by the modern technologies and allows the easy and direct contact between all those involved with Youth Basketball. In addition to this, the present Internet site of FIBA Europe offers new, extended possibilities for contact.

To conclude, it must be stressed that for the Youth Commission the key word is "communication". Our modern, digital era, offers enormous communication possibilities, making people easily accessible and allowing ideas, comments and proposals to circulate unhindered. In this respect, the Youth Commission of FIBA Europe can and should serve as a central co-ordination point for all European Youth Basketball actors, all those with whom it shares a common goal: the progress and development of Youth basketball in Europe.