LTU - Lithuanian basketball in good health but in transition phase

HAMBURG (2010 FIBA World Championship/FIBA U17 World Championship) - Lithuania have had a hard time in international basketball of late. An 11th place finish at last year's EuroBasket in Poland resulted in failure to qualify for this summer's senior FIBA World Championship in Turkey.

Instead, the country had to rely on a wild card to feature among the 24 participating teams.

But the future is not as gloomy as some of this basketball mad country's fans predict, according to Lithuania U17 assistant coach Egidijus Zenevicius. The level of passion is such, that opinions are seldom held back.

"We joke sometimes that basketball is a religion in Lithuania. There are about three million people and we joke that there are also about three million basketball coaches," says Zenevicius, who sees a changing of the guards, a transition between generations unfolding presently.

A number of big stars are drawing to the end of their careers and with the number of games they have played and the subsequent fitness issues resulting from the overloaded calendar, things are difficult, he explained.

Lithuania are hoping for the best and believe the senior team can do well, but in his opinion too much cannot be expected from this summer's World Championship.

The coaching set up for youth basketball is very sound in this small Baltic country. This is something Zenevicius knows a lot about, since he has also worked for the Sarunas Marciulionis basketball academy which, alongside the likes of the Arvydas Sabonis Zalgiris set-up, churns out most of the country's new basketball talent.

"The youth basketball set-up in Lithuania is probably one of the best in Europe," he states.

"Young basketball players begin competitive games from the age of nine, so they have years of competition and games behind them when they begin their careers. Then the National Federation begins working with youngsters at the age of 13-14 years."

One of the areas Zenevicius would like to see improved is the transition for players from their small local clubs to the top level and professional leagues. This does not always run smoothly for the players and can be a real challenge.

But he believes there is no need to ring the alarm bells just yet and that it won't be long until Lithuania returns to its usual place in world basketball as a great young generation of players is waiting to take over. 

"I expect to see one, two, maybe three players from this U17 team able to compete at world level for the senior team," he offers.

If Zenevicius is right, the future is bright for basketball in the smallest country among basketball's traditional superpowers.

FIBA