It’s scary saying 2007 out loud and that’s the age group that this U13 EYBL (European Youth Basketball League) tournament was aimed at of course – athough even more alarmingly, there were players 2008, 2009 and even 2010 born on show.
Covering a player who has literally not lived on this earth a decade yet did take me to a different place mentally. Although in terms of assessing talent, it was very challenging and interesting.
https://www.instagram.com/p/B47dkEmAb-r/
The EYBL meet several times a year in one location and it leads to the 2020 Play-Off Finals – the last tournament in the 2019-20 calendar.
This time it was the opening one of the new campaign and took place in Tallinn, Estonia, with Audentes the host club. Consisting of eight teams in two groups, with clubs from Russia (1), Latvia (2), Estonia (2), Poland (1), Czech Republic (1) and Belarus (1), they played games am and pm on the Friday and Saturday, before one last placing game on the Sunday.
Because of both the age of the tournament 10-13 years old and also the fact that this was just 8 clubs from the Baltics and Eastern Europe and not necessarily the best on the Continent, the talent level was drastically mixed. But, there were some gems and with BlueStar 30 to think of, as well as all the future FIBA tournaments, finding some diamonds in the rough is always a thrill.
You can also throw in the fact that my mantra is always that unpredictability is the main selling point of women’s hoops. At this age, logic and predictions can be thrown out of the window completely. There was little consistency in the results.
The eventual winners were local favorites Audentes, probably because they had two of the best 3-4 players on show, also helpfully, one leading the way in the backcourt and one in the frontcourt. To emphasize my above paragraph, they had started by losing to the team that eventually finished 7th.
Audentes beat Polish side Pomerania comfortably in the Final, with their star guard taking MVP honors for the tournament and their wonderfully impressive center also making the All-Star Five.
Their guard was incredibly athletic and just too quick, composed and smart for all defenders who fouled her incessantly. Their center was one of the best, if not the best, natural shooter of a big I have seen in years. The duo were wholly impressive.
https://www.instagram.com/p/B49_HQjA1Bh/
There were a couple of other nice players in the competition, including my favorite baller who was tiny, but entertaining (and highly skilled) throughout.
My only real bugbear was coaches shouting into the faces of individual players. Simply not appropriate at this age. Very occasionally to the team, yes. I get it. But the decibel level and proximity to the faces of these young girls in many cases was alarming. In one case, man-handling of a player. Just plain wrong. Culture differences may be a reason, but they are 100% no excuse.
All in all though, it was a great few days watching these young hoopers thanks to the support of Mike Flynn and a pleasure to cover for BlueStar Media.
If you want all the in-depth details of players then you know what to do, because as we said in the past – the days of cut and paste for those charlatans out there are over. We were there in the Estonian capital for real.
Next up on site for me? Next month I am leaving Boxing Day to go to Slovakia in bleakest mid-winter for the 2019 Olympic Hopes tournament.
Can’t wait.
Keep it locked to @Basketmedia365
