European Youth Basketball League

It’s been 19 years since that day in April, 1998 when seven like-minded persons (they were Victoria Voitovic and Eugene Gurianov from Tallinn, Oleg Okoulov from St. Petersburg, Dmitri Rostkovsky from Moscow, Raimundas Kairis from Kaunas, Aldis Neimanis and Guntis Shenhofs from Riga) met during an international tournament in Tallinn. That meeting gave birth to the idea of creating a system of competitions that would allow youth teams from Baltic countries and Russia to compete with each other on the regular basis. The following years proved usefulness of the original idea. While only 6 teams featured in the first season of EYBL, the League has since grown to comprise 280 teams (5 age groups) from 30 countries. We’re often asked questions like ’’What is the basis of the League? How to explain its phenomenon?’’ The answer is quite simple: EYBL is based on COACHES, on their endless enthusiasm, fanatic devotion to the children, and passion for the game. Operating without a centralized budget, we see mutual trust, good will and decency as basic factors of our work. Each of the countries possesses strong personalities who successfully coordinate stages and tournaments and help establish contacts with our colleagues from different countries. Together we’ve managed to create something of constant value - a true Basketball Family which is called the EUROPEAN YOUTH BASKETBALL LEAGUE. I’d like to thank friends, colleagues, coaches and basketball fans who realize the importance of our work and help us develop EYBL. I’m sure that the League still has a lot of potential and room to grow. Good luck to everyone! Guntis Shenhofs, EYBL Honorary president