Slovenia

Slovenia

The Slovenian survey - carried out by ZKK KRKA - shows how in Slovenia it is very difficult to involve people in the basketball world even from an educational point of view. The research was carried out through 11 clubs in Slovenia. Clubs involved in the research are from all Slovenian regions.

Convincing children to join basketball schools is a big challenge, because there is a greater offer coming from other sports.

The same issue results regarding women coaches sector. In Slovenia there are 3 types of coach competences/levels:

● youth basketball coach; ● basketball coach; ● pro basketball coach.

Every year in summer time there is the possibility to join one of the above mentioned courses. A higher rank than pro basketball coach can be obtained in three year study at the Faculty of Sports in Ljubljana or Maribor and it is called GRADUATED BASKETBALL COACH.

Here statistic data of participants (M/F) on basketball coach educations:

10

Here is the statistic data of female participants on basketball coach educations:

In order to foster the women basketball movement, every year in the beginning of July in Postojna (Slovenia) there is a FIBA basketball camp for coaches, referees and players dedicated only for women.

A good job could be developed, as well, by focusing on former basketball players becoming basketball coaches. In order to develop basketball progress in all specters, coaches are one of the key links to the main goal. Coaches who are former players are more efficient especially in younger teams because nowadays children are demanding and coaches need to know how and what these children feel in specific situations. Unfortunately, in Slovenia at the moment basketball coaches work performances are regulated by collaboration agreements and/or volunteer agreements.

Even through the female basketball referee world some positive outcomes could be obtained. Nowadays (2022), in Slovenia there are 221 referees (23 women, 198 men). Here details regarding rankings of male and female referees:

● A List → 1 woman, 15 men; ● SKL → 2 women, 20 men; ● SKL (Third Quality Competition) → 3 women, 21 men; ● SKL (Fourth Quality Competition) → 2 women, 23 men; ● Regional Competitions (all junior national league competitions) → 15 women, 119 men.

Every summer basketball federation organizes an educational course in order to gain new referees (male and female ones). In the last 2 years there were only 6 female candidates, and only 3 of them completed the education process. It would be useful to organize some national camps, where referee instructors could work with candidates through all week like is practiced in FIBA women camps.

11

Another important issue which deserves special attention concerns the management. Most of the clubs in Slovenia are managed by non-professional managers. People working for clubs on voluntary basis. According to the carried out research, management positions in basketball clubs in Slovenia are mostly male by gender. There are some women in club management positions but more as exception than rule. People who are on management positions are mostly volunteers.

Most Slovenian basketball clubs are funded from national resources (“Nacionalni program”), but clubs must apply and fill a lot of forms in order to collect these funds. In Novo Mesto (Slovenia), every year the municipality gives a tender of financing for work with sport youth. Every sport club can register to that tender in order to get funds for normal operation. Sadly all of those funds and more are spent only on sport halls, in order to guarantee trainings and games for teams can.

Almost every Slovenian basketball club has a private sponsor in the form of some successful company.

Another important aspect to be considered is sports infrastractures. ZKK KRKA club is based in Novo Mesto (Slovenia), which is a city that counts on two big sports halls and for elementary schools sports halls. Municipality plans the practice dates for sports clubs.

12