“Talent does not matter in grassroots programmes”
After Sequeira’s presentation, the programme progressed into the split-room series of lectures. Among the speakers, aside from experts in handball representing a multitude of different handball organisations and clubs, were FIBA Europe’s Head of national federations: Youth and anti-doping Radmila Turner and UEFA Head of technical development Frank Ludolph.
Both shared valuable insights into their own organisations’ programmes and how they encourage development of their respective sports on a grassroots level through different initiatives.
Turner outlined FIBA’s overall focused form 2023 to 2027, which include empowering national federations, the development of women in basketball, and shaping international club competitions. Those goals operate under the ongoing key areas of concentration, which are excellence in national team competitions, developing youth basketball, sustainability and innovation, and making 3x3 the most thrilling urban sport.
“Developing youth basketball is always there. It’s a priority,” said Turner. “Our number one focus, and this is what our 50 federations want, is youth.”
One specific campaign among the several Turner outlined is the “Her World, Her Rules” concept, focused on getting girls up to the age of 16 in the game by encouraging them to see the benefits of basketball aside from enjoying playing, such as making friends, having fun on court with others and developing as people outside the sport.
“FIBA has reached girls in over 100 countries, all over the globe,” said Turner, showing video clips of the different promotional materials for these initiatives. “We wanted to connect this – the grassroots with aiming for the stars.”
FIBA Europe are also concentrated on making their international youth competitions, for the age categories U16, U18 and U20, as appealing as possible and encouraging participation in those. Additionally, Turner introduced the Youth development fund concept, which encompasses grassroots events, promotion in schools, mini-basketball, coaching and education, and new competitions for youth teams.
In his presentation, UEFA’s Ludolph presented their own multitude of grassroots programmes. Diversity is critical in UEFA’s grassroots approach, with children, schools, youth, amateur, people with disabilities and veterans among those catered for in the diverse initiatives. “It’s for the masses. It’s about participation,” said Ludolph. “Talent does not matter in grassroots programmes.”
Later, Ludolph discussed gaps in UEFA’s already comprehensive approach: “Disability football is another area football has to embrace more proactively.” There are multiple different football disability associations operating in Europe.
UEFA have introduced a Grassroots Week, aligned with the European Week of Sport. There are also grassroots awards, which help motivate clubs to focus on these areas. Another new and interesting area in the context of UEFA’s grassroots initiatives is esports. UEFA have a partnership with EA Sports and have combined the esport with activities on the field in a current two-year trial now in its first 12 months. Ludolph admits he had reservations about such a programme, but evidence has shown esports actually encourage children to get on the field.
Along with the lectures, there was a panel discussion on “The pan-European grassroots movement” with comparative insights on basketball, football and handball. The panellists were Ludolph, FIBA Executive Director Kamil Novak, Hausleitner and Sequeira.
Aside from the notable non-handball guests, there were big names in handball on the programme, with former IHF World Player of the Year Andrea Lekic presenting on the EHF’s Respect Your Talent programme, for which she is an ambassador, alongside project coordinator Alenka Cuderman.
"It’s a great opportunity for handball, having a grassroots convention,” said Lekic. “As it’s the first convention, for us it’s a huge privilege to be here and I think having this kind of event, working with the young kids, investing in the future, is the brightest thing what handball can do in this moment.”