Report.az
Azerbaijan's U-18 women's basketball team made very good use of the training camp in Turkey because they were more experienced.
This was stated by Evren Alkaya, head coach of the U-18 and U-16 national teams, in an interview with "Report".
He explained the purpose of the training camp in Turkey as follows:
"Every year, when we are preparing for the European Championships, we hold the first training camps on these dates. We came together in Turkey to form our teams and see the condition of the players we will trust. This was the first preparation process. U-16 played seven games, and U-18 played six".
The Turkish expert touched on the difference in experience between the teams:
"The U-18 national team made very good use of this training camp because they were more experienced. Our U-16 team is newly formed, and there are three players from U-15 in the squad. The others were born in 2011 and 2012. These children are just entering the game and competition process, so I think they gained experience".
He emphasized that the main goal is official tournaments:
"The players remaining in Baku continued training with U-20. The main goal was to prepare for the matches against Bulgaria, Ukraine and Montenegro in March within the framework of the European Championship. I think the young players gained experience. We gave them all a chance, and I think they developed themselves".
E.Alkaya emphasized that the preparation process will continue in the summer:
"We are planning two more training camps before the FIBA youth tournaments that will be held during the summer. We aim to increase the number of games to over 40 in total and prepare for the championship in the best possible way".
It should be noted that Azerbaijan's U-16 and U-18 women's basketball teams participated in a training camp in Ankara, the capital of Turkey. During the training camp, U-18 played six friendly matches, and U-16 played seven.
