During our stay in Spain, Vlad Norkin, a talented coach from Russia who works for Cedevita Olimpija Ljubljana, spoke to Basketball Sphere at the International Basketball HUB Festival in Alicante, bringing with him extensive experience both as a player and as a coach.
A former professional forward who spent time in the BC Khimki and UNICS systems, Norkin won Russian Championship gold and collected honors in the VTB United Youth League, while also becoming an EYBL U16 champion and playing more than 350 professional games.
His coaching career has included work in the CSKA Moscow youth system and in Kazakhstan, where he helped BC IRBIS win a national league title during a remarkable 36-4 season. He is now part of the Cedevita Olimpija U15 coaching staff and has more than 10 years of experience developing players across both the professional and youth game.
Norkin also took part in the EuroLeague Head Coaches Board Coaching Congress in Antalya in 2022, and has worked across three different languages throughout his coaching career.
We are here in Alicante at the International Basketball HUB, where a large number of young players and coaches from different countries have gathered. How important are events like this for the development of young players, and how much does it mean to them to have the opportunity to work with coaches they might otherwise never have the chance to meet?
“I love high-quality basketball camps with good organization and a strong coaching staff. I believe events like this give players a fresh perspective and new knowledge.
I never forbid my players from going to camps in the summer; in fact, I encourage it. During the season, players get used to one coach, and sometimes they stop hearing the same information from me. At a camp, a new coach might explain the exact same detail from a different angle, and suddenly it clicks. In the end, everyone wins from that.”
How important is it for a club to be willing to allow its coaches to participate in events like this? Do you believe clubs need to understand that coaches cannot develop only through their everyday work within their own system, but also through exchanging experiences with people from different basketball cultures?
Tell us something more about the present period in Cedevita. You told me that coach Zvezdan Mitrović is open-minded about helping, and he also does not have a problem with other coaches attending the training sessions — how important is that for a young coach?
“It’s critically important. I believe getting international experience is a real necessity, both for learning new things and for testing yourself. As a coach, you always ask yourself: ‘Am I doing everything right?’ Events like this are the best place to either confirm your ideas or find answers to your questions.
Clubs definitely should send their coaches to different events so they can keep growing. I’m extremely grateful to Cedevita Olimpija for giving me this opportunity, as it’s in moments like this that you really feel yourself growing as a coach.
Cedevita Olimpija is a very open and friendly club that genuinely cares about its coaches. Last season, whenever my schedule allowed, I spent two months attending the first team’s practices. It was a priceless experience to watch top professionals work, see their attention to detail, and learn from their approach.”
When you look at your coaching journey today, how much did your work in the CSKA youth program influence the coach you have become?
“CSKA was definitely where I made the biggest leap in my career. And I’m not talking about titles or medals, but about the work itself. I was lucky to work alongside real professionals in the CSKA youth program. That’s where I learned elite scouting, preseason planning, team organization, and how to manage a team throughout a long season.
Above all, CSKA built my character and made me tough as a coach. It truly hardened me for professional basketball.”
Can a coach try to control a young player too much and actually slow down his development as a result? Where is the line between discipline and giving a player freedom?
“There are many examples of this, often when coaches focus too much on chasing medals and wins.
Don’t get me wrong, I love winning. I love to win, especially in tough games, and I really hate losing. But defeats are part of our job, and as coaches, we have to stay in control of ourselves.
Over-controlling a player can actually kill their love for basketball. I even went through a period like that in my own career. That’s why coaches need to keep learning, not just about basketball tactical details, but also about psychology. Our job is to help players grow, not make them quit the game.”
What did your experience in Kazakhstan teach you about basketball that you could not have learned in Russia?
“I was really lucky in Kazakhstan. Back when I was a youth player at Khimki in the VTB Youth League (between 2012 and 2014), my coach was Ramūnas Cvirka. Ten years later, fate brought us together again. I signed with the men’s team Irbis Almaty as an assistant, and later the club hired a Lithuanian head coach.
When they told me it was Ramūnas, I was super happy. I can’t even describe how much I learned from him in just one season. I constantly asked him questions about everything: why we ran certain plays, how he made substitutions, and how to communicate with players.
Men’s basketball is totally different from youth basketball. You’re dealing with grown men, many of them older than you, so you have to be very careful with what you say and do, especially in conflict situations. Being an assistant to Ramūnas was a huge gift, and I’m deeply grateful to him.”
How much did your experience in Kazakhstan, and particularly winning the championship with Irbis-Alatau, change you as a coach, and what did you take away from that period? Also, can you tell us something more about the Vietnam episode?
“Vietnam is actually a funny story. One evening, my wife and I just decided that we should move there. Why? To this day, we still don’t know! We arrived in Ho Chi Minh City in southern Vietnam without knowing a single person.
On our second day, I got a Facebook message from a guy (who I later found out was one of the richest people in Vietnam) asking if I wanted to join his international basketball academy as a coach. My English was really weak back then, but I took the job, and it was a super fun experience.
But coming back to Kazakhstan: winning the championship in the 23/24 season taught me patience, something I really learned from Ramūnas. Patience both during the season and during individual games. Often, when your team gives up an 8-0 run, coaches panic and try to change everything at once, which usually makes things worse. You have to learn to stay calm and make decisions with a clear, cold head.”
You are here today as a Cedevita Olimpija coach, but when you go back to the period when you were a young player yourself, do you remember a camp, a coach or a player you met back then who inspired you or perhaps even influenced you to continue pursuing basketball? Was there a Russian player or coach you looked up to as a kid?
“Honestly, I never went to camps like this International HUB when I was young. I only went to traditional training camps in Russia, where 10 or 12 of us lived in one room (with outdoor toilets and no hot water) and played on dirt or asphalt courts. That’s the real truth!
My first coach, Sergey, was the one who really got me hooked on basketball back in 2005. At that time, I knew nothing about basketball, players, or coaches. My whole basketball journey started with him, and I’m still truly grateful to him today.”
What did you find at Cedevita Olimpija that you were looking for as the next step in your career?
“Cedevita Olimpija is an amazing club. First of all, I really love Slovenia, and Ljubljana in particular. This whole organization makes me feel completely at home.
What I love about Olimpija is their professional attitude. Everyone here is a true professional and knows their job inside out. But most importantly for me as a coach, I’m surrounded by top-level coaches I can learn from every day.
They are also great people with huge hearts. It’s always tough for a foreigner in a new country, but Olimpija gave me a chance and helps me in every single moment. I am truly happy and proud to wear the Dragon logo on my chest.”
What did you learn about developing young players at CSKA, and what have you learned since then that you would do differently today?
“At CSKA, I learned that laying a solid foundation for young players is critically important. Every young player wants to skip this step, but it’s vital. I’m talking about the fundamentals: footwork in different situations, stops, and all the small details. Other coaches will definitely understand what I mean.
Quite some time has passed since I left CSKA, and today I see the bigger picture. I’ve always been good at connecting with players, but now I understand things on a much deeper level. I’d say that’s the biggest area where I’ve grown since then.”
When you watch a 14- or 15-year-old player, what do you try to recognize first — talent, character, basketball IQ or the ability to learn?
“It might sound simple, but while talent is important, it’s definitely not everything. You have to work hard, and you have to work smart.
What I look for most is how well a player learns the game, specifically how they react to mistakes during practices and games (both their own mistakes and their teammates’). Reading the defense and offense, having a feel for the game, and understanding tempo: these things are hard to teach, but they are essential.”
When you compare CSKA, Kazakhstan and now Cedevita Olimpija, what are the biggest differences in the way young players are developed?
“Speaking strictly about young players, I’d say the biggest difference is the genuine commitment to their development. Olimpija always searches for the best possible solutions for young players, focusing not just on their growth as basketball players, but also on helping them grow as people.”
Cedevita Olimpija places a strong emphasis on developing young players. In your opinion, what is the most important thing a club needs to provide a young player for his talent to truly develop into professional-level quality?
“In my opinion, it’s the opportunity to grow and move up the ladder, all the way to the first team.
As you know, Cedevita Olimpija competes at a very high level in the EuroCup and ABA League. If young players show the right quality, the right work ethic, and loyalty to the club, they know there’s a real pathway for them to reach the main team.”
Do coaches today try to turn young players into professionals too early, and how important is it to allow them to first learn through basketball, make mistakes and develop their own personality?
“Of course, we have to let players learn through their mistakes. As Sergio Rodriguez said when he visited us here: ‘Basketball is a game of mistakes.’
If you never make mistakes, you’ll never understand what works and what doesn’t. My job as a coach is to teach them how to make correct decisions, but the choice is ultimately up to them. I’m just here to help and guide them.
You know, it doesn’t take a genius to teach 14-year-olds how to run complex sets. You might win games simply because the opponent doesn’t know how to guard pick-and-rolls yet. But as players grow older, everything comes down to one core skill: decision-making speed. If you’ve only been running set plays since age 13, you won’t be able to make quick decisions on the court because that skill was never developed.”
If you had to choose just one thing that every youth coach should teach a player before he turns 15, what would it be?
“If I can give this answer, I’d say the fundamentals. It might sound boring or basic, but to me, that’s the truth. It’s critically important for a player’s future growth, because down the road, they shouldn’t be wasting time learning footwork, catching, or ball handling.
Of course, the psychological side is super important too. But if you have great character and confidence, yet you can’t catch the ball at full speed without committing a traveling violation, you’re still going to turn the ball over. Eventually, you’ll hit a wall simply because you lack that foundation.”
If you were given a 15-year-old player today who has tremendous talent but still doesn’t understand the game, what would be the first thing you would try to change about him?
“That’s a tough question because so many details matter here. But if we’re talking about a talented kid who is basically picking up a basketball for the first time, my main goal would be to make him fall in love with the game so he wants to stay in it.
Since he has tremendous natural talent, he’ll likely catch on quickly and enjoy it. When you succeed at something, you enjoy practicing it more, and that passion is what will drive his development in the future.”
And what is something you wish someone had told you when you were 15 that you ultimately had to learn yourself over the years?
“That making mistakes is totally fine. Missing a shot is completely normal. Basketball, like any sport, is a long process.
You need to have patience. That’s probably the most valuable lesson Ramūnas Cvirka taught me.”
