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We must do something to increase the base of managers. How do you expect to sustain SA community in that?

Ultimately it will come up to the SA users. I have no immediate connection to South Africa with which to recruit users who are now playing this game as of now. In Hong Kong you saw the explosion of users and USA has begun a similar campaign by posting universal ads on as many forums and websites as they could find.

In keeping the members active and keeping them interested in the NT you just have to keep them entertained. The most interesting part of the game, particularly for a growing nation is player development. Keep a constant update on the roster and who is training behind the scenes, how they are progressing and what expectations are moving forward. A number of nations have instituted a pseudo-training camp approach where you had a group of players you were tracking and reporting on so you could see not only the players who were on the roster but who the up and coming stars were.

All Candidates: What experience do you have at the NT level?

At national level I scout for the Icelandic national team for the national under-21 Icelandic, for the national under-21 Saudi Arabia. Also some time I follow the South African National and already know some of his players. So I have not chosen at random ...

And you? what are your experiences with the national team?

if each user can bring 1 new user, that will mean double users and double players. What I can do about it is, raising the awareness of SA users and using online channels like facebook etc. It's not impossible. Look what they did in Hong Kong this season. But after all, it depends on the willingness and dedication of SA users.

Actually that's not our job. Our job is to work together and get in touch with the managers that we have already in the country.

I disagree with you, the job of a coach and do everything possible to improve its national and surely find a way to include more African people is something that in the long run will improve the national team. Say you just want to think about what is now equivalent to having just a vision on which this certainly would not help South Africa to progress through the seasons in BB.

Of course the national coach has to do everything in order to improve the community and make things better. But it is quite difficult to bring a considerable number of new managers in communities like South Africa, especially when you don't have any relationship with the country in real life. I suppose that you have already tried this as a coach of U21 team, but I haven't seen any result. So you have to agree that it's extremely difficult.

If a manager wants to sell a player that we are interested in for the U21 NT or the NT, then we have to ensure that the player will be bought by a foreign cooperative manager who is willing to practice the talent and work with NT coaches. We must not leave any promising player without practice!!!!

And how do you do? Would you like to buy and train all potential national team players? I know that is bad to see a young prospect end up in a team that is not going to train him. But there is no way for us to avoid it if not just buying players but not a feasible things.

Greek community is very big, as Italian. Personally, I have many friends in the Greek community who look for new talented players every season. So I can propose South African players with good prospect to be bought by them. That's a good way to ensure that they will be trained correctly. You could do the same with your friends in the Italian community. Of course, there will be a few players who will be "lost" and not practiced, but we can save and train the majority of South African talents!!


Last edited by thanos at 6/29/2010 12:49:11 PM

In italian there is already a threhad forum where national and possible national are posted. After that, however, the only option is to hope that buyers understand that the best solution is training.

Yeah, of course there is this kind of thread in Greece also. But I mean that I can bring in touch the buyer(Greek friends of mine) with the seller(probably South African). These guys will train the player correctly for sure. So this is a good way of minimizing the number of SA talented players who are not progressing!!!

this can certainly help but the best thing would be to increase the number of users with a broader base because the loss of some talented pass almost unnoticed and I think that's what he meant the coach of the Under-21.

Thank you all for the contributions.

Let me keep it alive, it is very relevant to me. As somebody figured out, I have spent time this season trying to increase community involvment, and I will do it again. Let me pick some specific points, as there are few things I wish to discuss more in depth (better now than later). I apologize for rough decontextualizing.

I don't think that we can do something quite effective in order to bring new managers in South Africa. Actually that's not our job. Our job is to work together and get in touch with the managers that we have already in the country.

I recently had a discussion with BB Charles, some GM's and other U21 coaches about it. The ultimate goal of NT/U21 is greater involvment of local communities, to increase bb-fidelity and at the end ensure more business to BB's (thru more fun to all players, of course). Apart of reasonable business drivers, if we fail to involve the community, at the end we cannot be satisfied (me too). Something went better, at least in 1-1 conversations, this season. But it's not enough.
Moreover, if we not allow the community to grow, we will not have players, with final "termination" of U21/NT - i.e. playing with such bad characters that it will become painful to all.

Greek community is very big, as Italian. Personally, I have many friends in the Greek community who look for new talented players every season. So I can propose South African players with good prospect to be bought by them.

This is a key secret of success to Nigeria. I envy them. However, it is not a guarantee. Kevin Mauley, a great talent, our most promising PF (despite potential), was badly trained by an italian trainer. Several players went in Greece, so I posted in BB-Greece looking for a scout to directly interface local community (as my posts were unanswered), without success. Two players were burned in Greece, others elsewhere. Burr was bought to not be trained by a crazy manager (21 + potential means higher price). Issa and Teka were my frustration: at the end of the season, equals at the beginning. I was able to convince Issa's owner to sell it, with common satisfaction (manager too).

Look what they did in Hong Kong this season.

anyone can tell more about it? I knew about HK, but not how.

What experience do you have at the NT level?

let me say that NT is one thing, U21 is definitely another. The first is about long term, the second is about speed and seasonal changes. I would then review the question (to all): What experience do you have at the NT level?

What experience do you have at the NT level?

See my speech. I began my involvement when I drafted Perry Gipson and trained him up to a starting U21 and later NT point guard. From there I stayed active in the US NT circles. I generally stayed away from tactical suggestions for games because of an inability of the managers to keep us updated on player skills. I don’t see the point in asking for suggestions from people if you don’t let them know what we are working with? I gain a greater enjoyment from discussing general game strategy and mentoring users. I have been mentoring for the USA community for the last several seasons. From here Jelme with the help of FatCurry began to assign me the users with the best NT potential players on it.

My examples of successful NT training: Perry Gipson, Marcos Amorrortu.
My examples of successful NT mentoring: Tom Krebs, Ryan Blackwell, Mitchell Gold