SAN JUAN (William Rosario's Somewhere in the Americas) - I was talking with a colleague today and he said something that may seem crazy to a lot of people: "The goal of the youth tournaments, for a national federation and its team, should not be to win."

It stopped me in my tracks for a second, because I've seen the competitiveness of the U16 and U18 teams at the FIBA Americas tournaments and it seems like every goal, for everybody that participates, is to win.

"To compete is good. But to start out with the goal of just winning is completely wrong," he said and it clicked for me. Of course it is.

Why? Well, because when you pick a team of 15-year-olds with the mentality of winning, you are sure to leave out talent that is underdeveloped and that needs the international exposure to advance its growth in the court.

"Focus on winning is what brings out this terrible decision to have guys that are clearly undersized converted to play center just because they are a little taller than the other kids of their team," he added.

It's true. There are 6ft 2in (1.88m) centers that are tall at that age, but that you have to be realistic in the fact that maybe are going to end up undersized for their position. But in trying to win you have made the mistake on limiting them to a tall man position. What if he had the talent to be a great wingman and he just could not work on those skills because of your insistence to make him play one way for the good of the team?

The philosophy around basketball at every level has trickled down from senior championships and it has been hurtful to the future of the sport in some countries.

Expectations, which have become the name of the game for coaches at the pro and national team level, have crept up into the youth tournaments. Now, the teacher part of the equation for coaches has been outweighed by the fact that most of them are just afraid of having a bad showing to where they can no longer be considered for other assignments.

Youth tournaments should be about discovery. They should be about assessing talent and giving those young players that have the most potential the time on the court and the experience to become the best that they can be at the end of the road.

I am now in Colombia for the FIBA Americas League and have taken the time to ask some very good players at both the pro and national team level, where they were at 15 and 17 years of age and if they played for their countries in international youth tournaments. The majority of them said no, they just weren't invited to the tryouts or were invited but not considered for the final 12 because the teams had picked players before them who were skilled at that time but lacking potential.

And therein lies the delicate balance. What does potential mean? How do you spot it?

And that, I don't know. What I do know is that if the philosophy shifted completely to where winning was not the priority and teaching the game was, at least in the Americas, a revolutionary growth in our sport. We would have the presence of this rare not-so-much-talked-about concept right now called… fundamentals.

Now, in the Americas, having players that know how to play the game would make a big difference. The countries that have these types of players end up winning when it matters, when there is no more development at stake. If the senior championships are about now, about the present tense, isn't it time to make the youth championships really be all about the future?

William Rosario

FIBA Americas

FIBA's columnists write on a wide range of topics relating to basketball that are of interest to them. The opinions they express are their own and in no way reflect those of FIBA.

FIBA takes no responsibility and gives no guarantees, warranties or representations, implied or otherwise, for the content or accuracy of the content and opinion expressed in the above article.