World Association of Basketball Coaches completes insightful first meeting of 2023-2027 cycle

MIES (Switzerland) - The World Association of Basketball Coaches (WABC) has held the first meeting of the 2023-2027 cycle after gathering at FIBA's Headquarters, the Patrick Baumann House of Basketball.

The WABC welcomed four new members for the new period, with the meeting also attended by a range of FIBA representatives from 3x3, the FIBA Foundation and Refereeing Operations. 

For this upcoming cycle heading towards 2027, there will be a strong emphasis on how to further 'Empower National Federations' - one of FIBA's strategic objectives. One of the ways that the WABC is looking to help deliver this key ambition is to provide more educational resources for coaches of all levels all over the world with the goal of increasing the quantity and quality of players.

The WABC will also continue to contribute to another of FIBA's strategic objectives 'Women in Basketball'. The topic of how to have more female coaches at all levels was discussed at the meeting.

The group also discussed how the WABC can continue its strong relationship with the NBA through the Basketball Without Border (BWB) camps that take place across all FIBA regions, as well as continuing research and studies on new trends within the sport

Finally, there were ideas shared around the ongoing collaboration with the International Olympic Committee (IOC), especially in relation to Olympic Solidarity programs.

WABC President Patrick Hunt commented: "We had a very insightful and productive meeting to pave the way for this new term, exploring further collaboration opportunities to continue to grow our game.

"The major discussion topics included presentations from the FIBA Referees department on rules and interpretations, from the FIBA Foundation on exploring synergies between WABC programs, continuing the roll-out of the recently launched WABC Level 2 Coaches course, the 3x3 online resource for preparing 3x3 teams, and also providing Coaching programs for Women in Basketball."

"We are eagerly looking forward to providing the basketball coaching community with ongoing opportunities to advance their expertise to grow our wonderful game," concluded Hunt. 

The WABC
The aim of the WABC is to improve the quality of the game by improving the standard of those teaching it. The WABC's core activities are dedicated to the development of coaches globally, including organizing coaching clinics and producing coaching resources in several languages.

Additionally, the WABC is engaged in creating and developing a worldwide basketball coaches' community, already composed by thousands of high-level coaches, with the purpose of building a platform supporting coaches' development through knowledge exchange.

The WABC also provides input and advice on playing and coaching standards and trends to the FIBA Technical Commission via the WABC Advisory Committee, which is composed of current or former national team head coaches who have international coaching experience or have worked with players who have competed in international competitions.

Importantly, all WABC activities are endorsed by and organized through FIBA and contribute to FIBA's strategic objectives, particularly Empower National Federations, Women in Basketball and Develop Youth Basketball.

WABC Executive Committee

President
Mr Patrick Hunt (AUS)

Members
Mr Nour Amri (Africa Representative - MAR)
Mrs Anna Montanana (ESP)
Mr Christopher Ebersole (NBA Representative - USA)
Ms Natalia Hejkova (SVK)
Mr Tomoya Higashino (Asia Representative - JPN)
Mr Caleb Harrison (Oceania Representative - NZL)
Mr Michael Schwarz (Europe Representative - GER)
Mrs Brigitte Tonon (BEN)
Mr Donald Showalter (Americas Representative - USA)
Mr Nelson Isley (USA)
Mr Milan Opacic (SRB) *Based in CHN
Mr Torsten Loibl (GER)

FIBA