FIBA Americas YDP Elite Camp closed with the selection of the All-Star Five players for the continental Elite Squad

CAMPINAS (Americas) - The first edition of the FIBA Americas Youth Development Program Elite Camp held this weekend in the Clube Campineiro de Regatas e Natação closed with the selection of the first five players of the FIBA Americas Elite Squad.

Marcio Henrique Da Costa, Matheus Leoni Brito, Guilherme Carvalho, Daniel Ifedi Ferreira and Bruno Henrique Pedro were selected for the FIBA Americas Elite Squad within the 24 participating players in the camp that was held from December 13-17 in the city of Campinas.

The FIBA Americas Youth Development Program Elite Camp had the presence of the current Brazil national team head coach Aleksandar Petrovic as Camp director, 10-time USA Basketball medalist coach Don Showalter, former national team players Eduardo Agra, Paulinho Villas Boas and Danilo Castro, and visits by FIBA Hall of Fame member Amaury Pasos and Brazilian basketball legend Marcel de Souza, along with opening and closing remarks by FIBA Americas Executive Director Carlos Alves.

Eduardo Agra, Don Showalter and Aleksandar Petrovic

“I am very happy to have been a part of this camp. I feel that I am a better player after the training sessions with Petrovic and Showalter, along with the other great coaches that were fully focused in helping us grow as athletes. It has been a great experience.”, said Ifedi Ferreira.

Daniel Ifedi Ferreira

The camp also had 10 participating national referees and 30 national coaches that were selected and invited to take part in every activity during the weekend.

“I am very grateful with FIBA for starting this beautiful project in Brazil. Now it is the responsibility of everyone that attended and was invited to this camp, coaches, referees and players, to take this knowledge and share it with those that could not be here learning from these legends. This is how we are going to make a difference and have an impact in the growth and development of basketball in our communities.”, said Danilo Castro in the closing lecture.

Danilo Castro and Brazil national team U15 head coach Thelma Tavernari

The athletes and referees, born between 2002-2005, had four full days of basketball activity that included anthropometric and physical evaluations, neuroscience training, development of individual and team skills, player-referee and player-coach dynamic conferences, as well as testimonial lectures from the Brazilian basketball legends about their career experience with advice on their future.

“This camp is an important event that can offer these young athletes a vision of the possibilities and different roads that each and every one of them has with their talent and potential to grow into player that can in seven or eight years can be a part of the Brazilian national team. This represents a big moment for the future of basketball in this country.”, said Petrovic.



The Youth Elite Camp falls under the umbrella of one of FIBA Americas’ Key Pillars, the Youth Development Program that has the following objectives:

• Seek and Develop the Elite Young Players in the Americas with a view to have these participants elevating the quality of their National Teams by the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2023 and the Paris Olympic Games 2024

• Establish a process for tracking and monitoring young talent in their Evolution and Progression in the Americas Region

• Work hand in hand with Key Stakeholders and National Federations Identifying the Talent

The Program, that will be executed through individual camps and development of young talent, is structured into three pillars: growing access of basketball to young athletes, giving more opportunities for young women to develop their game and creating a platform for the elite youth players of the Americas. Its implementation phase will begin with Elite Camps for boys in December 2018 and throughout the year 2019, with 2020 as the initial date for the Elite Camp for girls.

Campinas hosted the first of several camps to be held in the Americas. Future FIBA Youth Elite Camps are scheduled for South America, Central America and the Caribbean, culminating in a FIBA Americas Regional Camp and World Camp later next year. In each camp there will be players selected to be a part of the Elite Squad, along with the first five from Campinas, to represent FIBA Americas in exhibition games to be organized during key dates in the international basketball calendar.

From left to right: Guilherme Carvalho, Daniel Ifedi Ferreira, Don Showalter, Matheus Leoni Brito, Marcio Henrique Da Costa and Bruno Henrique Pedro

“We are very excited with the tip-off of this FIBA Americas Youth Development Program with the Elite Camp in Campinas. The objective of this camps is clear: identify young athletes that can have an impact in their national teams by the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2023 in Indonesia, Japan and Philippines, and the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris. And what we were able to witness in this first camp has been truly inspiring with coaches, referees and players all focused in the development of their game. This is FIBA’s mission and our commitment in the regional office throughout the Americas.”, concluded Alves.

FIBA