Danko Cvjeticanin and Andrej Tesla: The work with children is always motivating

Danko Cvjeticanin and Andrej Tesla spoke to Basketball Sphere about the brilliant initiative they are launching this summer in Istria. The basketball camp “Basketball Adventure” is a project that will be open to all children in Europe.

This summer, the basketball camp “Basketball Adventure” will be organized with its base in Novigrad. The organizers are the celebrated former Cibona basketball player and current scout of the Brooklyn Nets, Danko Cvjeticanin, the most renowned statistician in the Balkans and basketball coach Miroslav Nadj, the man who created names like Mario Hezonja, Dario Saric, Krunoslav Simon, and Ante Tomic at KK Zagreb – Andrej Tesla. Basketball coach Danijel Lutz is also part of the team.

The company “3 point tree”, owned by the celebrated Danko Cvjeticanin in collaboration with BC Novigrad is organizing a summer basketball camp for young basketball players from all over Europe. The camp will take place in two sessions of seven days each (June 16, 2024 – June 22, 2024 and July 6, 2024 – July 12, 2024). The main center for most activities will be the City Sports Center in Novigrad.

Basketball camp for children from all of Europe

A unique aspect of this camp is that it is for children from all over Europe (aged 13 to 16). They plan to attract them through various marketing activities, primarily through social media, but also through lobbying with clubs, associations, and basketball experts with whom Cvjeticanin has been in contact over the years working as an NBA scout. The expected number of participants in each session is around 60.

The basketball camp places the huge emphasis on shooting

The main focus of this camp will be, as the name itself suggests – shooting. One of the three most important basic elements in basketball alongside dribbling and passing.

“As for the camp itself, it will be divided trough mentorship. We will teach beginners how to apply shooting in the game, from shooting mechanics to fade-aways, step-sides, step-backs. All of this will be integrated with other parts of technique and how to apply those parts in the game.”

His players, whom we mentioned earlier in the text, are all technically well-equipped players with excellent shooting skills. We were curious about Tesla’s influence on that aspect of their game.

“When we conducted those processes one of the major emphases was on shooting. We dedicated a lot of time and attention to it. We aimed for achieving consistency in shooting. A significant portion of the training was dedicated to working on shooting in various situations, methods, and combinations. We wanted to instill the mentality that the one who scores more wins, so we emphasized offensive skills over defensive ones.”

Comparing past and present times

The next aspect we wanted to touch upon was actually the comparison between past and present times regarding the methodology of work. Slavko Trninic stands out as one of those who also created great players but spent six, seven hours in the gym with them.

“We had a great volume of work. We made sure it was adequate in terms of their age and the necessary rest needed for all of it to accumulate and develop. It’s not just about physical exertion, but also about mental strain and impact. The reality today is such that you don’t have the conditions you had before in terms of being able to dedicate yourself to such a method of development. The influence of time is different and caution is needed in terms of dosage and volume. Times are no longer the same.”

The impression is that the sport as such is losing its charm somewhat. A child will always first fall in love with the player’s moves. That’s the first thing that attracts them to a sport. Unfortunately, that is lost today. Sport is increasingly reduced to strength and speed, where players with skill in the game are slowly dying out.

“It is true that strength and speed prevail today. What is currently happening is that this domination of strength needs to be put into some kind of function of technical dominance so that it will coincide with each other. You won’t have players at a high level today if they don’t have domination in strength, technique and cognitive abilities.”

Differences between an outside and inside player

As we live in the modern era of basketball where the emphasis is on shooting and centers do a bit of everything on the court we were interested in whether there is a difference in working with a child who is predisposed to be a point guard compared to a child who is leaning towards being a center.

“Today’s tendency is such that players must be versatile. They must have the ability to play multiple positions. Nowadays, such divisions in working with young players don’t make sense because if you look at today’s NBA there are no longer players like Shaquille O’Neal who built down low and created an advantage. In the NBA centers are very mobile and versatile – they can play facing and backing up to the basket and most of the time they play facing the basket.

The teaching methodology is completely the same. There is no difference between an outside and inside player except that some specific shots are given to inside players. The initial methodology with kids entering the gym is exactly the same,” says the expert from Zagreb.

Working with children as a huge motivation

Danko Cvjeticanin is a former legend of Cibona. He now works as a scout for Europe in the NBA team Brooklyn Nets. In his playing days Cvjeticanin was one of the deadliest shooters in this region. For this reason the idea of a camp called “Shoot like Danko” tells us where this story is heading. Shooting, along with dribbling and passing, of course is one of the three most important fundamentals of basketball. So the idea of ​​such a camp is particularly interesting.

“I don’t know if there are camps in our country that are internationally oriented so I assume there are, but I haven’t explored that direction too much. I liked the idea of Novigrad and Istria having camps for basketball, but they didn’t have this type. Working with children is always motivating and it always feels good when you invest time for the betterment of children. In this case, therefore, their improvement.

As for sports education and sports life since we will have, besides training, a lot of discussions on other topics such as nutrition, preparation, lifestyle, etc., that motivated me, of course, as well as Miroslav, who is the camp leader and who lives in Novigrad. He was also somehow crucial in my initial idea and when I called him and proposed it. After a few days, he accepted the idea,” starts the legend of Cibona in the conversation for our website.

“Although he was a great shooter, he doesn’t like the direction basketball is going in”

Considering that we live in the “pace and space” era, which has been experiencing a growth trend for the past 10 years, it’s interesting to hear how Mr. Cvjeticanin doesn’t enjoy such kind of play, even though he himself was an outstanding shooter.

“In the USA, there are coaches who specialize only in shooting and who focus on that type of training. I am glad that we will also specialize in that skill. Although, unfortunately, there are fewer and fewer players who are classic top shooters. I based a lot of my game on shooting. Shooting was perhaps the best skill I had in basketball when I played.

My opinion is that the experience and knowledge I gained from working with the best coaches in Europe can be passed on to children. I will just be a collaborator and the main coach will be Andrej Tesla, but I will certainly participate in working with the children,” he tells us, and continues.

“I am quite, how should I say, not disappointed, but I don’t like that trend. The trend in which only spectacle is seen and that’s what people want to see. In parentheses, I would say that profit is actually the main element of all changes. Many coaches don’t like the fact that the game is focused on the three-point shot.

Statisticians have said that the three-point shot is more productive, that is, it leads to win more easily. I have a completely different understanding. I think that shooting must be a significant weapon, but without a complete player repertoire, including inside play, it’s difficult to open up outside shots against proper defenses.”

NBA is heading in the wrong direction where the essence of basketball is lost

In conclusion, the former Cibona star reflected on his training days and compared them to the present.

“Success and hard work went hand in hand. We had coaches who simply educated us all in that way. Personally, I can say that I definitely invested a lot in my shooting. I experimented with my personal records, played around with myself, set goals for myself, and so on. One motivation is also to find talent among the sea of young players and perhaps turn them into top shooters. Of course there will be other elements of the game, not just shooting, but let’s say that shooting may be the main focus. The beginning is always the hardest and the first two to three years are usually tough for success, but if we succeed, we want this camp to become traditional,” concluded Danko Cvjeticanin.

Expectations from the camp include three-point shooting competitions and team competitions. There will be lectures on nutrition and mental preparation for basketball at the highest level. Children will have the opportunity to visit the Aquapark. Many additional activities will be organized, which the organizers of this great event want to remain a surprise for now.