While our U18 national team is in Okinawa (Japan), I have been sitting in the front ranks of an advanced training course at the Trainer Academy (TA) in Cologne since yesterday, unlike my school career. Why am I sitting so far forward? I’m late, very interested and have less eyesight due to my age 😉
Topic: “Performance reserve technology in competitive sport”. Coming from baseball – we use Rapsodo and Blastmostion in Paderborn, as well as light barriers and video analysis – very interesting. What’s even more interesting is that many different sports come together at these events at the TA. Today: basketball, handball, swimming, football, baseball, karate and weightlifting – a lively exchange, great, highly recommended!
The lecturer from yesterday missed the appointment, so we had to improvise. Nice shit, I thought, until the colleague from a national basketball team said “If we know from our measuring procedures that a 13-year-old who is currently not at least 1.98m tall, we’ll leave him at home.”
Just a moment! What about the immediate success of your U14 national team? It doesn’t exist in basketball, only from U16!
In basketball, players are promoted or not based on a measurement that is apparently very relevant for this sport, in this case height. The immediate success of the national selection takes a back seat due to the lack of national teams. The aim is therefore to promote the most promising athletes for the U16s, from the U12s upwards. In basketball, as in baseball, the national comparison tournament is also a screening measure for the national teams. However, as these start later, the national coaches are more interested in projectability than actual performance in the game.
I was impressed. In my sport, date of birth (relative age effect) and maturity status (physical superiority) play a major role from U12 onwards. After all, we are already playing very successfully on the international stage. Germany has won the European U12 and U15 baseball championships several times – and, as already mentioned, is currently represented at the World Cup in Japan with the U18 team.
My current awe – why don’t we do it like the basketball players? – was at least temporarily put into perspective over the course of the evening.
Hen or egg?
Is the average height in the German Basketball League (BBL) 1.99m, thus disqualifying athletes who, based on scientifically sound measurement methods, are known not to reach this height and therefore have no chance in competition?
Or is the average height in the German Basketball League (BBL) 1.99m because athletes with a shorter height are excluded from the promotion and thus from the competition from the outset?
Are we perhaps doing more right than wrong? After all, high-quality competition boosts self-confidence and provides training at the highest level. Competitive training and success can lead to more success. Or are we simply promoting physical superiority from the outset and neglecting talent in return?
As always, I have not come to a final conclusion, how unsatisfactory 😉 But the course continues for another two days.
