Dusan Ivkovic: I would like to share my experience to Russia

Today in the Aerostar hotel a presentation was given about an international coaching seminar to be held by the Yugoslav Basketball Coaches Association, or YUBAC) in Belgrade from July 27-29.

Dusan Ivkovic, YUBAC president, PBC CSKA head coach:
"I am very grateful to the president of the Russian Basketball Federation Sergeу Chernov, the vice president of FIBA-Europe Valentin Kuzin, my friend Alexander Gomelsky, Sergeу Kushchenko and Yury Yurkov for the help in organizing this event. I would really like to share my experience with Russia. At the moment there are a bout 950 basketball coaches in Serbia and Montenegro. 430 of them have licenses to work with professional clubs. And the training and licensing is done by our basketball academy. We train up to 70 coaches a year. We publish a monthly newspaper called Trener, in which you can find a lot of interesting information concerning basketball. And the newspaper is published in two languages: Serbian and English. The seminar being discussed at today’s presentation is, above all, an opportunity to share my experience with experts from different countries. We don’t see the seminar as a means of making money. Believe me: Inviting NBA coaches is not a cheap task for the seminar’s organizers. And if we have some extra money, we’ll spend it on putting out some specialized literature for coaches."


Milan Opacic, YUBAC director:
"This is already the second seminar that our association is holding. Right now, when basketball borders are disappearing, it’s very important for quality coaching to exchange and share experience and knowledge. I’m happy that the Russian coaches who will be at the seminar will have an opportunity raise their professional level. We are offering our guests quality knowledge from recognized basketball experts. This season’s NBA coach of the year Greg Popovich will give a clinic, as will Javier Imbroda (Spanish national team and Real Madrid) and Dusko Ivanovic (Tau Ceramica). In addition to theory sessions, they will also hold several practice sessions at Belgrade’s
Pioneer Arena."


Alexander Gomelsky, president PBC CSKA
"This season, out of 24 Euroleague teams, 13 of them had Yugoslav head coaches. Two of them took their teams to the Final Four. So why wouldn’t we try to learn from them? It’s never embarrassing to learn. And with the European Championships right around the corner, a seminar like this could really help us. I have been at two other such events, and in my opinion, the Yugoslav methods are more interesting than the American ones. True, the best players are in the NBA, but the coaching school is stronger here. Ivkovic is in his first year here in Russia, and he has already shown that he knows how to - and can - get results."


There was a rather restrained reaction by the Russian coaches who attended the presentation to the invitation from their Yugoslav colleagues, in spite of the fact that there was obvious interest in obtaining new knowledge. The main problem: financing a trip to Belgrade. Sergey Chernov noted that experience like this is essential for Russia, where, in his words, "human potential is not properly
used," and promised to help the coaches with the trip.