The new philosophy of the youth categories of red-black basketball
Check out the clarifications from Flamengo's Vice President of Olympic Sports, Alexandre Póvoa
By Communication - Official Club Website - in
Rio, 03/09/2015
Dear friends,
Flamengo basketball began participating in another Basketball Development League (LDB). The competition is an excellent initiative of the National Basketball League, enabling young people under 22 to compete annually in a high-level, nationwide tournament. Each team will play a minimum of 23 and a maximum of 28 matches. Flamengo, in four editions, is the competition's most successful team, with two titles (2011/12 and 2013/14), one runner-up finish (2014/15), and one third-place finish (2012/13).
Many may have found it strange that, in the current fifth edition, Flamengo only won two of its first 11 matches, a performance completely inconsistent with its reported history. I've given a few interviews on the subject, but the sheer number of questions prompted me to write this article.
The main objective of youth teams, in any sport, is to develop high-level athletes for the club. To this end, the success of a youth team cannot be measured by the number of titles won by under-9, under-11, under-15, under-17, under-20, or under-22 teams. This is a fatal error that plagues the careers of many coaches in this age group, especially at "shirt-wearing" clubs, where the pressure for titles is constant.
This short-term vision was no different at Flamengo basketball. We've won a lot in state championships and also two national championship titles (LDB) in recent years. But then comes the basic question: how many players have we managed to develop to actually play for Flamengo's professional team? Unfortunately, practically none. The few exceptions prove the rule. Clearly, this was a scenario far below what we considered reasonable for the youth academy of a world champion basketball club.
At the beginning of the year, in agreement between the board and the technical staff, we decided to implement a set of actions to change this situation:
A – Total priority is given to player development. Obviously, Flamengo wants to win every championship in its youth academy, but that's not the focus: In the LDB, we decided, instead of fielding the best players at the time, to prioritize athletes, regardless of age, who truly have the potential to become professional players in the medium and long term. To give a fictional example, in the new youth academy training concept, it's preferable to field a 16-year-old (perhaps still immature) 2,05m center for an LDB match than to prioritize winning the championship with a 22-year-old, 1,90m "experienced" center with little potential to further his career. Therefore, we took the initiative to release players, and in the LDB (under-22 tournament), of the 18 players who played in the first two stages, 15 are 19 or younger. The average age of our team is one of the lowest in all tournaments—only 18. For the first time in a long time, Flamengo has four athletes called up to the Brazilian U-17 team and who, obviously, within the new philosophy, actively participate in this LDB group.
B – Space for under-22 athletes in the professional team: There's no point in restructuring the youth academy if the club doesn't embrace the philosophy of making room for standout U-22 players trained at home. Therefore, of the 16 players training with the senior team, our goal is for approximately six to eight athletes to come from this level, demonstrating that there's room for those pursuing this dream.
C – Search for talented athletes in the market: To accelerate this process of restructuring the youth teams, we must simultaneously seek out high-level athletes in the market, of any age, but always within the hyperselective philosophy that they will have the potential, in the medium and long term, to become players. To this end, we must invest in improving infrastructure to accommodate athletes from other states (schools, housing, food, etc.). Flamengo must be seen, both by local athletes and the market, as a club that offers development opportunities and opportunities for participation in a consistently high-level adult team.
Ultimately, this text isn't meant to justify defeats, especially because the Flamengo jersey's commitment, at any time or place, is always to victory. We're not satisfied with this start to the competition. Although we know we're playing the tournament with a much younger team, we're convinced these young players can give more to Flamengo, even today. We're demanding this, especially since this kind of pressure and experience are also part of an athlete's development. This new model should in no way serve as a crutch to get us used to losing, which will also reveal a lot about the "character" (from a sporting perspective) of future athletes and current coaches.
There are times in the management of any business when it's imperative to take courageous and radical actions to change our history. It's inconceivable that we're a "Champion of Everything" club in basketball and, paradoxically, fail to develop high-level athletes at the academy. We've begun to change this path, and the heavy price we're paying in the short term will be the seed for this project's success, the fruits of which will be harvested in the coming years. Reinforcing this, everything that's happening was planned by top-level professionals—José Neto, Marcelo Vido, Rodrigo Silva, André Guimarães, and Paulo Chupeta—and has the full backing and support of this Vice-Presidency, which envisions implementing this philosophy across all of CR Flamengo's Olympic sports.
Red-black greetings,
Alexandre Póvoa
Vice President of Olympic Sports
Dear friends,
Flamengo basketball began participating in another Basketball Development League (LDB). The competition is an excellent initiative of the National Basketball League, enabling young people under 22 to compete annually in a high-level, nationwide tournament. Each team will play a minimum of 23 and a maximum of 28 matches. Flamengo, in four editions, is the competition's most successful team, with two titles (2011/12 and 2013/14), one runner-up finish (2014/15), and one third-place finish (2012/13).
Many may have found it strange that, in the current fifth edition, Flamengo only won two of its first 11 matches, a performance completely inconsistent with its reported history. I've given a few interviews on the subject, but the sheer number of questions prompted me to write this article.
The main objective of youth teams, in any sport, is to develop high-level athletes for the club. To this end, the success of a youth team cannot be measured by the number of titles won by under-9, under-11, under-15, under-17, under-20, or under-22 teams. This is a fatal error that plagues the careers of many coaches in this age group, especially at "shirt-wearing" clubs, where the pressure for titles is constant.
This short-term vision was no different at Flamengo basketball. We've won a lot in state championships and also two national championship titles (LDB) in recent years. But then comes the basic question: how many players have we managed to develop to actually play for Flamengo's professional team? Unfortunately, practically none. The few exceptions prove the rule. Clearly, this was a scenario far below what we considered reasonable for the youth academy of a world champion basketball club.
At the beginning of the year, in agreement between the board and the technical staff, we decided to implement a set of actions to change this situation:
A – Total priority is given to player development. Obviously, Flamengo wants to win every championship in its youth academy, but that's not the focus: In the LDB, we decided, instead of fielding the best players at the time, to prioritize athletes, regardless of age, who truly have the potential to become professional players in the medium and long term. To give a fictional example, in the new youth academy training concept, it's preferable to field a 16-year-old (perhaps still immature) 2,05m center for an LDB match than to prioritize winning the championship with a 22-year-old, 1,90m "experienced" center with little potential to further his career. Therefore, we took the initiative to release players, and in the LDB (under-22 tournament), of the 18 players who played in the first two stages, 15 are 19 or younger. The average age of our team is one of the lowest in all tournaments—only 18. For the first time in a long time, Flamengo has four athletes called up to the Brazilian U-17 team and who, obviously, within the new philosophy, actively participate in this LDB group.
B – Space for under-22 athletes in the professional team: There's no point in restructuring the youth academy if the club doesn't embrace the philosophy of making room for standout U-22 players trained at home. Therefore, of the 16 players training with the senior team, our goal is for approximately six to eight athletes to come from this level, demonstrating that there's room for those pursuing this dream.
C – Search for talented athletes in the market: To accelerate this process of restructuring the youth teams, we must simultaneously seek out high-level athletes in the market, of any age, but always within the hyperselective philosophy that they will have the potential, in the medium and long term, to become players. To this end, we must invest in improving infrastructure to accommodate athletes from other states (schools, housing, food, etc.). Flamengo must be seen, both by local athletes and the market, as a club that offers development opportunities and opportunities for participation in a consistently high-level adult team.
Ultimately, this text isn't meant to justify defeats, especially because the Flamengo jersey's commitment, at any time or place, is always to victory. We're not satisfied with this start to the competition. Although we know we're playing the tournament with a much younger team, we're convinced these young players can give more to Flamengo, even today. We're demanding this, especially since this kind of pressure and experience are also part of an athlete's development. This new model should in no way serve as a crutch to get us used to losing, which will also reveal a lot about the "character" (from a sporting perspective) of future athletes and current coaches.
There are times in the management of any business when it's imperative to take courageous and radical actions to change our history. It's inconceivable that we're a "Champion of Everything" club in basketball and, paradoxically, fail to develop high-level athletes at the academy. We've begun to change this path, and the heavy price we're paying in the short term will be the seed for this project's success, the fruits of which will be harvested in the coming years. Reinforcing this, everything that's happening was planned by top-level professionals—José Neto, Marcelo Vido, Rodrigo Silva, André Guimarães, and Paulo Chupeta—and has the full backing and support of this Vice-Presidency, which envisions implementing this philosophy across all of CR Flamengo's Olympic sports.
Red-black greetings,
Alexandre Póvoa
Vice President of Olympic Sports