Building sports fields for youth, the only guarantee of success

The junior basketball team of Bosnia and Herzegovina finished eighth at the European Championship for players under 18 held in Slovakia, reports the Patria agency. 

Our team played seven matches at the championship, recording three wins and four losses. The performances of our players varied from brilliant to poor.

When it comes to competitions of such young selections, the result is never the primary goal, but rather the development of players in both playing and human terms, because most of them are still just talents without any real prognosis of what kind of career they will make in professional sports.

Let us recall the generation from two years ago, led by Džanan Musa, which won the championship title in Lithuania. The public welcomed them in Sarajevo as true heroes, the media and fans turned them into stars overnight, and mayors of certain cities from which the players came competed to offer the biggest reward, with some even being awarded apartments.

In countries that seriously engage in the development of young athletes, such things are simply not done. Even in the richest countries in the world, apartments are not given to 16- or 17-year-old boys, because it is completely logical that at that age most of them very quickly start acting like stars, and focus less and less on developing their sports career.

Instead of awarding apartments, serious countries build sports fields for their talents across the country so that every talented young person has the opportunity to train and develop. Our talents, unfortunately, are not in such a situation. There are cities in BiH where there is not a single public basketball court where children can play and develop.

After the generation of players two years ago won the European championship title, one of the leading basketball portals in Europe, „Eurohopes“, conducted an analysis of the BiH national team and concluded that from that generation, only Sani Čampara and Džanan Musa could make a serious basketball career, provided they realize in time that basketball is a team sport, not an individual one. All other players were predicted to go no further than a career in some club of the Adriatic League.

Such an analysis provoked a strong reaction from fans in BiH on social networks, and the Spanish journalist who conducted the analysis was declared an ignoramus who has no idea what basketball is. Two years later, it is clear that the journalist was right. Čampara played excellently again, and by signing for Real Madrid confirmed that a brilliant career lies ahead of him; Musa realized that basketball is a team sport and is progressing more and more every day, while, to our regret, the other players from that generation have not made any serious progress in playing terms. 

Unlike two years ago, this generation did not win the title, but finished in eighth place, which does not mean that from this generation perhaps more players will not make a serious career. There are many such examples from the past.

The only guarantee of success lies in building sports fields and creating adequate conditions for training and proper work with young players. By turning them into stars, enormous pressure is placed on their shoulders, which very few young players can handle.