The Annual Conference of Committees and Local Associations has concluded in Thessaloniki, where during its two-day duration data and goals were recorded for the whole of Greek Basketball, with an emphasis on Development.
All the areas and actions of the Federation were analyzed, concerns were expressed and a dialogue was held for each section, with a clear message that the changes are now clear and will be made more in the immediate and distant future, for the good of Greek Basketball.
THE NATIONAL TEAMS
At the beginning of the second day of the Conference, the effort was presented for the National teams, Men and Women, of all ages.
The presentation was made by Dimos Dikoudis, where he underlined what the new administration and the management team of the National Teams have received, what they have done and what they are aiming for in the future.
“We want to be in the Top-10 of the world ranking for both Men and Women, as difficult as that sounds. We believe that the medals will come soon, while for the women we want to be consistent in the major events. Similarly in the young ages, where for the girls we want to return to all ages in the A’ Category” he emphasized among other things.
He pointed out, on the other hand, that: “…The Pre-Olympic tournament is a great opportunity to return to the Olympic Games after 16 years, while the Women’s Eurobasket that we have undertaken gives us the opportunity to attract girls to the sport” and he focused on the Children’s and Youth Eurobasket, in the development of “3×3” and in the presence of Vassilis Spanoulis on the bench of the National Men’s team.
“HUGE CAPITAL”
The President of the EEC, Vangelis Liolios, spoke about the National teams, and among other things he emphasized that:
“We want to have the best possible conditions at all levels of infrastructure and support for the National teams, to have the best teams, the most meritorious selection of players, but the result is what judges an effort, no matter how good it is. This is sports, everything is judged on a shot, on a rebound, who will remember everything else?”, while pointing out that it is everyone’s inviolable will to select the children on merit for the Nationals, he made reference to the finances of the Pre-Olympic (2.7 million the pre-selection fee will cost 3.5 million euros, all guaranteed by sponsors) and underlined the difficulties for women’s basketball, where the “reservoir” of female athletes must be increased, especially at young ages, and concluded that: ” …We want positive energy from everyone, we all have to help improve basketball, we want volunteers for the events we got, the big ones, and everyone knows that the doors of EEC are open to everyone”
A dialogue followed with opinions and reflection on the present and the future of the National Teams…
THE SENSITIVE AND VALUABLE CSR
This was followed by the presentation of the activities of a “newly created” department of the Federation, CSR, the department of corporate social responsibility, presented by the head of Zacharias Stagakis.
He pointed out that now CSR “… has emerged as a directly functional part of all major federations and organizations. In 2022, the department was established for the first time and EEC is the first federation to make it special”.
He presented the actions taken so far and the plan for the future, as well as the HBF PLUS that concerns the strategy of social and environmental responsibility for the next 4 years.
“ALLY” TECHNOLOGY
Sarandos Michalarias, in charge, spoke in detail about the Digital Transformation department and the technological “reinforcement” of the Federation’s effort and of the sport, in general.
He underlined the will of the administration to digitize everything and thus make it easier for the associations and the athletes and emphasized that: “…When Mr. Liolios called us, the first thing he asked for and we did was the Registry. We did it, safely and certified. This is the basis, we did all the processes digitally, now everything is done electronically. This is how we minimized the processing time, e.g. transfers, which are now done in zero time” and he underlined that the Digital Bulletin, the Game Center, the Mobile App for commissioners, the web radio, the weekly podcast and the monthly e- magazine, with many topics and promotion of basketball. He also spoke about the creation of the National Esports Team, which is now very popular among young children, and pointed out that the goals now are the automated broadcast of all matches, the creation of a streaming platform, like ErtFlix, where all the matches will be, either Live, or on demand, and in the end all this will end up in a Smart TV application.
THE VITAL MARKETING
Giannis Hamilos referred to the purpose of the marketing department, which is divided into the areas of competitions, social responsibility, creative, events, commercial and communication. He pointed out that some events held to strengthen the department were very important, he presented the new logos of leagues and events, while he gave some advice for the Associations such as increasing influence, awareness, participation. “To educate and inform all the factors involved in the sport, to have as much as possible a presence on the internet, to make new logos and websites, to look for new ways of communication and to strengthen the local leagues”, he said.
THE ORGANIZATIONS AND THE CHAMPIONSHIP
Dinos Sverkounos spoke about the events and the championships. He emphasized that the goal from the first year was the upgrading of all leagues, cups, Panhellenic and all other competitions. He referred to the restructuring of the EEC championships, the upgrading of the men’s and women’s Greek cups, the promotion of the “small” Panhellenic and local championships. He made a special reference to the Elite League and emphasized the issue of naming, the great increase in the viewing of the games, the incentives for young athletes.
In A1 women there is a discussion about broadcasting matches and naming, it already has the financial support and the incentive to use the new players. For the rest of the categories and the “small” Panhellenic teams, he emphasized their upgrading, the great visibility of their matches and the digital match sheet.
For the men’s cup he talked about the upgrade to F8 with the presence of many spectators and TV coverage. For the women, he said that it was important to connect the final with the men and that they are thinking of organizing a Final 4 next year. Finally, for the coming years, he emphasized that the goal is to complete the restructuring and reach commercial agreements.
Vangelis Lolios in his intervention referred to web-radio and its connection through the EEC site with all the other sites dealing with the sport. He emphasized the goals of the Federation regarding the upgrading of all events at the national and local level and urged the Associations to deal with this seriously always in cooperation with the EEC.
THE JUDGES
Tanya Merica spoke about the referees, stressing that their duties are differentiated due to the electronic match sheet, something that has been done for years in FIBA events. He referred to its utility and safety features. Eliminates paper with an environmental footprint and makes archiving easier. He pointed out the speed that the equipment used by the unions should have.
THE ARBITRATION
Pantelis Eleftheriadis referred to the arbitration, stressing that the electronic record of the referees was something positive for the smooth running of the championships. He pointed out that there are many departures of referees and thanked the EEC for the repayment of debts that existed from the past.
Stelios Koukoulekidis emphasized that the training of the referees is weekly with videos and a questionnaire to which they answer in order to make the greatest progress. Our goal is to frame the FIBA and Euroleague championships with Greek referees, something in which we have been lagging so far. “I am optimistic about the future as there are many outstanding young referees,” he concluded.
ORGANIZATION AND OPERATION
Dinos Sverkounos spoke about issues of organization and operation. He emphasized that the purpose of the EEC was to become an organization by creating a functional organizational chart, in order to have financial stability and sustainability. In this context, a new organizational chart was made, which now works properly, there are new regulations and disciplinary bodies. Finally, he referred to the major goals and challenges of the Federation which will be carried out in joint strategic planning with the Associations.
The Conference was successfully concluded on Friday afternoon at the Olympic Museum of Thessaloniki.
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