NOVI SAD (FIBA U16 European Championship 2018) - Basketball is important, but it is not the only thing players should care about. All of them who are at the FIBA U16 European Championship in Novi Sad got an opportunity to hear about it from Bogdan Bogdanovic.

The Sacramento Kings star was on hand at the FIBA Players' Educational Workshop, helping introduce these youngsters into the world of professional basketball, and all the risks and benefits of social media and other interactions that come with it.

Players from all 16 teams participated in a series of questions and answers, asking Bogdan about various topics, while also taking him on in a trivia quiz about basketball. Team Latvia won the game in the first group, while Team Greece emerged victorious from the second batch of U16 national teams.

A couple of hours of learning and laughter were there for them, and Bogdanovic was all smiles afterwards when it was time for selfies.

"This is beautiful," Bogdanovic said. "It brings back a lot of memories, of those first championships, of being a kid and making new friends for life in events like these. Certainly an experience to remember."

Players enjoyed his story and the rise to success, while also getting some advice on how to speak to media, how to present themselves to the public, and what to be careful about.

"When I was this young, I wasn't playing for the national teams, so I never got a chance to attend seminars like this one. But later on, I remember being at a camp where Nicolas Batum was doing something similar to this. Other than that, I didn't get a lot chances to speak with a lot of older players," Bogdanovic described the motivation behind his participation.

Bogdanovic was helped out by Natasa Kovacevic, former Serbian youth national team member and current FIBA Youth Ambassador, who had her own experience to share with the newest generation of national team players. Also there to help was former Spanish international and current FIBA European Development Projects coordinator Elisabeth Cebrian.

FIBA has organized the Players' Educational Workshops at multiple events, bringing the other side of basketball a bit closer to the players.  The project was introduced at FIBA's global events, the FIBA U17 Basketball World Cup and FIBA U19 Basketball World Cup, for both men and women, before finding its continuation at continental level.

In 2017, Cebrian was joined by former Montenegrin player Goran Jeretin at the FIBA U16 European Championship in Podgorica, Montenegro and the seminar also took place in Sopron, Hungary at the FIBA U18 Women's European Championship. The final European workshop of  2018 is set to take place at the upcoming FIBA U16 Women's European Championship in Kaunas, Lithuania.

For further photos from the event, please click here.

FIBA