Group photo of the United Academy youth teams in the sports hall (standard illustrative photo, not related to this article)

Academy youth talents join Yoast United

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Yoast United’s new head coach, Jeroen van Vugt, is a genuine developer of talent and has worked extensively with United Academy talents over the past years. United Basketball’s vision is for young talents to make the step up to Eredivisie level. Alongside Pepijn Vermeulen and Quincy Biliosa, who were already part of the squad last season, the training group will be further expanded with the following talents:

  • Moise Malengele (19)
  • Tom Arends (18)
  • Jens Besselink (17)
  • Marko Saveljic (16)
  • Tobias Molenaar (15)

The last of these, Tobias Molenaar, was selected last week by national coach Luiz Lemes for the Dutch national Under-15 team. Tom Arends (U18) and Marko Saveljic (U16) are still in the preliminary national squads.

Jeroen van Vugt: “It’s important that talents have enough training opportunities and challenges. Our vision is clear: we want to bring basketball in Gelderland to a higher level, and this step fits well with that. By giving these players the chance to train more and work with full-time pros, we’re helping them take their next steps in development.”

Raúl van Loon has been a coach at the United Academy for years, coached the men’s U18 last season, and worked with many of these talents. “For all the athletes in our programme, and beyond it, it’s important to see players making the step up from youth to the BNXT League team — that’s what they work hard for every day. I’m proud that these talents are now getting the chance to show what they can do,” says van Loon.

United Basketball’s talent programme is supported by the United Basketball Business Club, in particular the Academy’s partners: Yoast, Eijkelboom, SCEX Software Optimization and Accountancy Wijchen. They helped further build out the training facilities and technical guidance.