Two-day United Basketball Talent Tournament an international success!

BEMMEL – For the eighth time, the Gelderland top-sport organisation held a tournament for talented basketball players from home and abroad. The very first edition of the tournament took place in 2016, back then under the name Firestarter. The organisation was already run by United Basketball, which at the time was called TBG Dragons. The 2023 edition featured 35 teams from the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany. Matches were played on three courts at the Gelderland basketball organisation’s home ground, Sportcentrum de Kooi. On Saturday, the U14 and U16 played their tournament; on Sunday it was the turn of the men’s U18/19 and the women’s U21/seniors.

There was plenty of tension and drama to enjoy during the United Basketball Talent Tournament. In most matches the teams were closely matched and the level of play was high. The Men’s U16 final between MBCA Amstelveen and Elite Academy Antwerp, for instance, was decided after double overtime. The stands, especially on the Saturday, were also well filled with enthusiastic supporters.

“The tournament has a great reputation and we see interest growing every year,” says Steven Teunissen, one of the organisers of the United Basketball Talent Tournament. “We had to disappoint a number of clubs this year — even though we’d already expanded the pools from 8 to 10 teams, they filled up quickly. After a few editions with fewer foreign teams, this year we were able to welcome 4 teams from Belgium and 5 German teams.” An exchange was even set up with the German team BonnRhondorf for the tournament. “Our teams went to Bonn for an educational training camp and stayed with the German players’ families there — during the Talent Tournament we of course did the same the other way round,” Teunissen continued.

The tournament always takes place on the last weekend before the leagues start again in each country, a deliberate choice: “As a team you want to play against good opponents as late as possible in your preparation. Our tournament gives teams the chance to measure themselves against evenly matched opponents. We can only achieve that by playing the tournament as late as possible before the season starts.”

“We have a wonderful partnership with the Dutch Basketball Federation [NBB]. The weekend before the season starts, a training session is held for the referees we host during the tournament. The referees attending that training can put it straight into practice. The NBB provides good guidance for the referees so they can develop themselves, and in turn we get good referees for our tournament. On Sunday, the national talent group is even deployed.”

Asked whether there will be another Talent Tournament next year, Teunissen answers without hesitation: “Of course.” This edition will most likely take place on the weekend of 14 & 15 September 2024. “Over the coming weeks we’ll evaluate the tournament and talk with our partners again. We’re certainly ambitious about organising the tournament again next year — many teams have already asked about the date so they can reserve it. We also want to look at how the days are divided, particularly because we’d like to grow the girls’/women’s side of the tournament too.”

Photos of the event, taken by house photographer Hennie van Diest, will be made available later.