Text By Sara Robinson

This year, jointly sponsored by the Polish National Tourist Office in London and the Małopolska Region in Poland, the Future Stars Tournament features three of the top U18 teams in Europe from Spain, Israel and Italy which will take on the very best young players from England and Poland in what promises to be the most exciting Youth Basketball Tournament in the United Kingdom this season.

Basketball is big in Poland this year, as the country hosts the European Basketball Championship of 2009, universally referred to as EuroBasket 2009, for the first time in 45 years. Much like EuroBasket, the U18 Men’s European Championships, divides its teams into Divisions A, B and C, with the top teams playing in Division A. In July 2009, Spain, Israel and Italy will all play in Division A in Metz in France, with Poland and England competing in Division B in Sarajevo in Bosnia. The organisers of the Future Stars Tournament, Richmond upon Thames College and its partner, Kingston College, are particularly pleased that the Tournament has managed to attract such prestigious teams this year, only two weeks before they take part in the European Championships themselves.

Ewa Binkin, Acting Director of the Polish National Tourist Office in London said, “We are pleased to be able to sponsor an event such as this, which brings together top European talent from the world of youth basketball, in a year in which basketball becomes so important in Poland. It will give us an opportunity to highlight the excellent sporting facilities available in the Małopolska Region, and to encourage young sportspeople from the United Kingdom and other parts of Europe to visit Poland in order to take full advantage of the opportunities available to them.”

The Tournament, which is the brainchild of Jack Majewski, a former Polish international youth coach who now coaches the Richmond College-London United senior and U18 basketball teams, was inaugurated in 2008. In its first year it attracted international U18 teams from the Czech Republic, Poland and Slovenia as well as the prestigious European Club junior teams from Unicaja Malaga in Spain, Zalgiris Kaunas in Lithuania and the Richmond Select team from London. The Tournament was designed by Jack Majewski as an opportunity for European Basketball to showcase its young “future stars.”

In 2008, this is exactly what happened. The Tournament was won by the Czech Republic which beat Poland in a thrilling final. The Tournament most valuable player (MVP) was a certain Jan Vesely (born 1990) from Ostrava in the Czech Republic who has since become one of the most talked about young players in Europe. In the starting five now for European basketball powerhouse, Partizan Belgrade, Jan Vesely has emerged this season as a serious prospect to go to the NBA in the next few years.
 

Also part of the winning Czech Republic U18 team were two other 2008 future stars, Tomas Satoransky (born 1991) and Jakub Kudlacek (born 1990), both of whom returned to London just over two months later as part of the Czech Republic’s Men’s team who were defeated by Great Britain at the O2 Arena in the first of their EuroBasket qualifying matches; the youngsters having been seen for the first time in the United Kingdom at the tournament.
 

This year, there are exciting prospects in all four of the national teams. In the Italian team, the top player is 18 year old Nicolo Melli who already plays regular minutes in the Second Division in Italy, the LegaDue. Other players to watch in the team from Italy are Riccardo Moraschini and Simone Centanni who has had already had some minutes with the Montepaschi Siena pro team, which team made the EuroLeague Final Fours in Madrid in 2008.
 

According to Christophe Ney of www.europeanprospects.com, a website dedicated to youth basketball scouting, it is this year’s Spanish U18 team that looks the most interesting with Alberto Jodar, a 2.05m tall forward and Josep Franch, their accomplished point guard, being the players to watch out for.

In the Polish team, Sebastian Szymanski should be the strongest player. Described by Christophe Ney as a big scorer on the guard position, it is likely that he will be Poland’s most valuable player.

Not to be outdone however, the England U18 team will feature future star, Ryan Richards, who has been tipped as an NBA prospect since he was 14 years old. Currently playing in Mons in Belgium under the Great Britain Men’s team head coach, Chris Finch, 2.10m tall Richards will be the player the British spectators most want to see in action. Ryan Richards, originally from Jamaica, started his sporting life playing football but, like many other tall youngsters, was scouted into basketball by his local team in Kent. From there, he went as a 15 year old to the Gran Canaria Basketball Academy in the Canary Islands, where he trained and played hard for two years before moving to Belgium. Ryan Richards is considered to be the best young basketball prospect in England since Luol Deng, currently the United Kingdom’s most famous basketball player now playing in the NBA for Chicago Bulls.

When asked about this year’s potential “future stars”, tournament organiser, Jack Majewski, said, “I am very excited about the players who will be coming to Kingston this year. For the first time, we have three top teams from the European Championships Division A, as well as the Polish national team, who narrowly missed being promoted from Division B last year. These four teams will showcase some amazing talent. And who knows, some of the English players, playing on their own home territory, may very well surprise us all. It will be an awesome event and one that should not be missed.”

Further Information on Future Stars can be found on www.futurestars.uk.com
 

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