Over 200 coaches get tips from Calipari, Rana and others in Cairo

CAIRO (FIBA U19 Basketball World Cup 2017) - Over 200 participants from 17 countries throughout Africa and Asia took advantage of the International Coaches Clinic at the FIBA U19 Basketball World Cup 2017 to learn lessons of the game from some of the top coaches at the tournament.

Three of the four coaches in the FIBA U19 Basketball World Cup 2017 Semi-Finals - John Calipari of the United States, Italy's Andrea Capobianco and Roy Rana of Canada - were among the six coaches holding individual sessions on a variety of topics.

Calipari was talking about modern basketball while Capobianco addressed building up a youth program and Rana discussed closing out in basketball. The other topics were post man defense, press defense and how to build man-to-man defense.

"I want them to understand that I've learned as much from FIBA as they are gonna learn from me," said Calipari, who won the NCAA title with Kentucky in 2012. "Being able to coach the Dominican Republic national team made me a better coach. It educated me on European basketball and how it's played, and I was able to take that back and the next year I won the national title. We changed how we played. We spaced the court differently. We looked for position-less players."

Calipari, who has guided United States to the Semis against Canada, continued: "It's a whole mindset and now I'm trying to make it better. So I'm just bringing back my thoughts and how we're trying to do what you guys do and try to add to it."

I want them to understand that I've learned as much from FIBA as they are gonna learn from me. - Calipari

Capobianco, who will be coaching Italy in the Semi-Finals against Spain, was pleased to pass on some of his knowledge to the other coaches.

"I'm so happy and proud to be here and I hope that the coaches here feel our passion on the court and learn some of the ways to form a program in youth basketball," the Italian coach said.

Jimnah Kimani from Kenya took a lot of lessons from the clinic.

"It's a good exposure, especially learning from the coaches that exhibited what they usually do with their teams," said Kimani, the only coach in Cairo from Kenya. "It's a big achievement for me. I was alone here from Kenya. A lot of people will ask what happened."

When asked what message he will deliver when he arrives back home, Kimani said: "We need to read basketball. There is a lot of basketball that we assume. We need to do the small details on a daily basis. Coach Calipari said they even do the dumbest things that you wouldn’t even want to spend time on. But it’s all about repetition. Basketball is about repetition."

I hope that the coaches here feel our passion on the court and learn some of the ways to form a program in youth basketball. - Capobianco

Nayef Asfour from Jordan meanwhile said the main message he learned was: "We have to learn from our patience. Basketball is getting new and we have to learn and never stop."

Asfour said the clinic was also about more than just learning from the six coaches holding the sessions. He also learned a great deal from his fellow participants.

"Every coach has a different experience and you hear many different philosophies from the whole world. So you learn from the coaches giving the clinic and from the other coaches from the world," Asfour said.

All of the sessions were recorded and will be available on YouTube.com/FIBA later this year.

FIBA