With Avdala, Liotopoulos and Ambosi the 12th of the children’s national team for Eurobasket U16

The children’s national team is ready for the Eurobasket U16, which will be played in Skopje (12-20/8) and will open tomorrow (12/8) against Spain.

A day before the start of the event, the EEC announced the 12th, chosen by Vangelis Ziagos.

The 12th of the children’s national team in detail:
Andreas Patrikis (2006, 1.98, DEKA)
Yannis Komnianidis (2006, 1.83, Heracles)
Epaminondas Epaminondas (2006, 1.93, CHANTH)
Eleftherios Havoutsas (2006, 2.02, Peristeri)
Stefanos Spartalis (2006, 2.04, BAOL Chios)
Philipps Tsachtsiras (2006, 2.04, Mars)
Anastasios Rozakeas (2006, 2.00, EFAOZ)
Lefteris Liotopoulos (2006, 1.92, TEN)
Nikos Soilemetzidis (2006, 1.90, Prometheus P.)
Benjamin Abosi (2006, 1.94, Olympiacos)
Stelios Ioannis Maragoudakis (2006, 1.80, Peristeri)
Neoclis Avdalas (2006, 1.96, Panathinaikos)

Coaches: Vangelis Ziagos
B. Trainers: Dimitris Varvounis, Thodoris Siares
Trainer: Thanassis Alexandrakis
physician: Giorgos Nomikos
physiotherapist: Tasos Papagiannidis
mission leader: Lampros Takis
The Phase I program
12.08 22.00 Greece-Spain
13.08 19.45 North Macedonia-Greece
14.08 15.15 Montenegro-Greece
*All matches will be streamed live on FIBA’s YouTube channel (youtube.com/fiba).

Speaking on the EWG’s official website, Vangelis Ziagos said:

“Our preparation is complete, having already gained great sporting and interpersonal experiences, which are always one of the demands of our life, this time has been designed based on three central axes and our own evaluation will take place at the end based on that:

firstcreating a positive and educational training environment where every athlete feels important and thrives.

Secondly, the formation of our competitive identity and its acceptance by all. The kids come from different teams, have different basketball promoters, and are invited over 40 days to work together and possibly adopt a different philosophy. Sounds easy, doesn’t it, since we’re talking about children of young training age, but also about athletes from underperforming regions of the country.

Third, the formation of an attractive and family atmosphere in which one trusts the other and respects him for who he is. We are satisfied with what has been achieved so far.

On a purely competitive level, there is an atmosphere of heightened and premature expectations due to the good performances in the pre-season games, and we understand that. But let’s be down-to-earth and cautious in our demands, because a European Championship is a very different condition than pre-season games.

We must not forget that we will be up against the elite of European development programmes, which have a consistent and stable presence at the highest level. I think this year’s summer events are an excellent opportunity to define exactly where we are today, where we want to go and how we will get there.

This work is far-reaching and we will not reach the highest level overnight, as we are accustomed to doing in our country.”