BASKETBALL SCHOOL "TORNADO" The Tornado KM team expanded their horizons in Berlin
10th – 12th of May, 2019 team of “Tornado” basketball school coaches and director had an internship in Berlin, Germany, where they came up with ideas for the future.
As soon as they flew to Berlin, Tornado KM teams went to Berlin's Alba U16 practice, straightly from airport. Practice was led by Serbian living in Germany. "Although the practice itself and the sports facilities were not really surprising," – said coach Tomas Rakauskas, - the innovations of XXI century implemented in the gym were impressive. Cameras and sensors on each corner record the training process so the coach can stop the action at any time and turn the important moment to show the player what he did well or bad. Coach can check the number of accelerations, speed during training and any other information needed for monitoring. The U16 team was quite tall, well set up, but "angled". In our eyes, they lacked Lithuanian basketball IQ and game reading.”
A team of “Tornado” BS visited German Basketball League match between Alba Berlin and Eisbären Bremerhaven. “We were impressed with the fans during the match! – said T. Rakauskas. – This game means nothing to “Alba”, but there were approx 8000 fans and noise was ear-splitting! After very good game (“Alba” won after overtime in 3 points), we’ve met with Rokas Giedraitis. This season he played in “Alba” club. Rokas told us about the great work of club, full arenas of fans and great atmosphere in the team. The coach of “Alba” team – for many year coach of FC Barcelona and Badalona Juventut, 72 years old Spanish Alejandro Garcia Reneses. He has a lot of confidence in the young players and the peace of mind during the games. The board of the club is pleased with the coach, who tries to get young players into men's basketball and enable them to gain as much competitive experience as possible. That's how 15-year-old Ricky Rubio started his career in the men's basketball with this coach. Franz Wagner born in 2001 is playing in “Alba” team and it’s expected to see him in NBA in the future. We were also happy to find some common acquaintances - Jonas Mattisseck (born in 2000 ) and Hendrik Drescher (born in 2000). Both players participated in the international basketball tournament „Kaunas Cup 2015“, organized bu „Tornado“ basketball school. J. Mattisseck was awarded as symbolic five player.
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During the other days in Berlin, the team of “Tornado” BS visited DBV Charlottenburg sports base, attend game of DBV Charlottenburg U19. They also talked with Reza Ghasseminia – basketball coach who participated in our tournament „Christmas Cup 2017“. He is reponsible for youth teams in the DBV Charlottenburg club. Director D. Čiuprinskas talked to R. Ghasseminia about the working methods of clubs and discussed about the possibilities of cooperation. „From the organizational point of view, most memorable, that in Berlin, basketball schools can use gyms of general education schools for free,“ – said director Dainius Čiuprinskas.
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“I‘m very happy that we have the opportunity to broaden our horizons, sharing information and looking for working methods of foreigner coaches for several years”, - said D. Čiuprinskas. – There is more to be taken from one trip and less from the other, but everyone says that such trips are very useful for coaches because they are the main engine of our organization."
