Former UAE resident aims to earn spot in Slovenian youth team

Jay Asser 00:19 12/06/2016
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  • Kevin Podpecan (c) with Basicball co-founder Dejan Kamenjasevic (l) and Aleksandar Ivkovic.

    The 15-year-old is vying for a roster spot on Slovenia’s youth national team for the U16 European Championships this summer.

    After going through two tryouts with the Slovenian squad, Podpecan is awaiting a third to take place this month.

    “[The workouts] were very, very hard because I was the shortest of all of them,” said Podpecan, who plays shooting guard. “There were kids there who were 2.5m tall and 190 (pounds).”

    Podpecan may be on the low end of the spectrum with his 1.76m height, but there’s still room for growth as he shot up seven centimetres since moving from Dubai back to Slovenia in February.

    “The coach saw I was working and if this year I don’t get it, he’ll see how much I grow and how much stronger I get, then they’ll put me in,” Podpecan said of his national team chances.

    Height hasn’t been the only area where Podpecan has grown.

    After initially playing football and athletics, he transitioned to basketball at the age of six. When he moved to Dubai at 10, he continued playing the sport in school.

    “In Slovenia, everyone knows how to play so I got easily into it,” Podpecan said.

    “When I moved to Dubai, most of the people didn’t know how to play so it was hard for me to get along with them because they barely knew how to dribble.”

    It wasn’t until Podpecan joined Basicball in January 2015 after his father discovered the academy while researching though, that he became serious about improving.

    Podpecan trained eight times per week, practicing every day before and after school. The hard work paid off when the Slovenian national team came calling 10 months later in November.

    “He’s improved a lot,” said Dejan Kamenjasevic, co-founder of Basicball. “He started to do personal sessions with us and he also did group sessions. He’s 15 years old but he practiced with all the kids.

    “This is our system and this is what we’re doing. We are not putting the kids by age, but by level, like the European system.

    “This shows what we can do here. Of course it took a lot of work because with Kevin it took 10 months, almost every day. But it’s not luck. It only happens because we work hard. This isn’t a secret. This is how we improve.”

    While making the national team is Podpecan’s short-term goal, he has bigger plans of earning a basketball scholarship to a US university down the road.

    “I really want to accomplish a lot in my life. Sport is my number one thing, but education is also a priority,” he said.

    “My grades are really good this year, better than last year. My English has improved a lot, so I think I have a good chance of getting into a very good college.”

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