ZARAGOZA (2016 FIBA U17 World Championships for Men and Women) - Participants at the 2016 FIBA U17 World Championships for Men and Women have benefitted from Elisa Aguilar, Elisbeth Egnell and Hanno Mottola facilitating seminars on the importance of preparing for life away from the sport.

The events held in the morning on Sunday (women) and Monday (men) were part of the championships' strong focus on not only basketball matters, but also social and educational issues. The FIBA Players' Commission has also made a commitment to ensure young aspiring basketball players are given as much support and advice as possible.

In order to prepare for the seminars, Egnell was recently among four members of FIBA's Players Commission to attend an International Olympic Committee (IOC) workshop based around the IOC's Athlete Career Outreach Programme. And the Sweden national team player enjoyed passing on her knowledge from this and experiences of her career to the young women present in Zaragoza.

Elisabeth Egnell (SWE)

"I think it went really well and all the girls were listening, even if it's a little bit of an experiment to have such huge classes," she said of Sunday's seminar. "I know players find it important to listen to messages from their own team staff, but it can also be important for young players to hear these things from somebody else. This is one of our biggest responsibilities.

"The message is very much that you have to be prepared for life away from basketball, whenever it happens. One of the lessons from me is that I still don't know what to do with my life and I don't want them to all to have to go back to square one. They need to understand that you must focus on your basketball but can also focus on planning for life away from it too.

"It's easy for me to talk to these girls because I have been through it," reiterated Egnell.

Elisa Aguilar (ESP)

Meanwhile, Spanish legend Aguilar added: "It was a great experience and hopefully the players will take some of the educational messages - not only for their future careers, but also in their general lives.

"I wish somebody had told me many of these things I might have to deal with when I was 17. I went to the United States and was able to study the language and get my economics degree and I told the players just how much of a crucial moment this decision was in my own life."

From an audience perspective, Spanish U17 ace Sofia Galeron gave positive feedback, having expressed her desire to follow in the footsteps of Aguilar and study in the USA, as well as playing basketball.

"It was very interesting because they have been professional players and their experiences are important to us," she said. "It is important to have listened to them and it was a good experience as part of my dream of being here at the FIBA U17 Women's World Championship."

On Monday, Egnell and Finland legend Mottola spoke at the men's seminar, with the latter delighted to be taking part.

Hanno Mottola (FIN)

"When you're 16-17 years old and you have to listen to some old guys, sometimes you might feel it's a waste of time. But hopefully if they can remember just a couple of things a week from now, a year from now, then it's been well worth it," stated the former NBA player, who is an assistant coach for Finland's U17 men's team.

"The biggest thing is to unite all players in the world, especially with the new competition system where these players will all come together. These players are going to see each other in two years, 10 years from now, 15 years from now in different competitions. So I think it’s great to build that family now.

"The Players' Commission is for the players and these are the guys who are really important for us. This is the future, so it's really important to try to represent FIBA and basketball in the right way."

A compatriot of Mottola, Finland's Mikael Jantunen was thankful for having had the opportunity to listen.

"I think it's great that we get to hear about experienced players and it's good to know how they build their careers - it was a really good experience for everybody," he said.

FIBA President Horacio Muratore (centre)

FIBA President Horacio Muratore addressed the players at both seminars and praised the benefits of the two events.

"The Players' Seminars have been great and the applause at the end said it all. This is the beginning of the future. One of the main objectives that we have discussed in the Players Commission as well as the Competitions Commission, is to do things in parallel," he explained.

"As I always say, a university for example needs to be about more than just teaching, but also providing more to the local community. Here we are doing the same. We are teaching basketball which is what we do with former and current players who were successful in the sport, all sharing their experiences so the new younger players can achieve the same success.

"Through this tournament, we wanted all the players to feel the importance of playing for their national team, giving 100 percent to it, to their federation and to the beautiful sport which is basketball. But it is also important for a 17-year-old to be permanently thinking about what to do in the future. As such, we brought opportunities to these players and showed them the reality."

FIBA