From the first day of taking office, EEC President Vangelis Liolios has given priority to the development of Greek basketball in youth. The federation, through Kostas Tsartsaris, responsible for the specific sector, presented yesterday the axes on which the development program is focused. In this regard, the federal coach D. Itoudis is assigned a key role in order to create a vertical system for young men, which will cover the men’s national team. This particular model, very similar to the Spanish one, includes among other things:

• Daily contacts of about 20 trainers of the federation with the trainers of infrastructure departments.

• Big activation of age groups 13-17 years old, reactivation of “P. Kapagerov”, participation in foreign tournaments.

• Focus on basics like shooting and speed at a young age, remove scoring in some age groups.

• The Blue and White Stars program, in which 13-year-olds participate in a pan-Greek tournament.

• Open training in youth.

• Separate development plan for each age group.

• Special treatment for 15-year-olds in the mixed teams of ESCANA and ESCANA who will participate in the Association championship.

• The resumption of the Rising Stars tournament, the promotion of the Big Greeks and Shooting Stars programs, the launch of the Greeks Abroad program, where Greek players will be searched all over the world.