INTERVIEW WITH JACK MAJEWSKI..

August 14th, 2006 - INTERVIEW WITH LONDON UNITED DIRECTOR OF BASKETBALL, JACK MAJEWSKI..

Gary Pidwill recently caught up with Jack Majewski, newly appointed Director of Basketball at BBL newcomers, London United and put to him the aims and ambitions of the club for the coming season.

London United have taken a slow and steady rise through the ranks of the EBL and now find themselves competing at the top league of British Basketball. With a solid base underneath them, the aims and goals of the club are simple - to get London basketball back on the map in the BBL after the withdraw of the London Towers from BBL, and to get a strong team back into regular and successful London-based BBL and European competition.

Up until now, the progress has been slow. So why, you may ask why are London United going to BBL when the club never won the EBL and the supporters’ base is yet to develop?

The answer lays ultimately, in the clubs plans for the future, and how British Basketball will develop in light of the new young stars plying their trade in top European Leagues and the upcoming Olympic games in London in 2012. Every club has to have a starting point.

''Playing in the EBL and our previous achievements there has almost no relevance to ours long term plans. Trying to sell sporting events in London govern itself with different set of rules. London public is spoiled by huge number of sporting clubs and entertaining acts performing here. Top quality basketball is difficult sell here but promoting second class league in London is completely impossible. London demands and deserves something of top quality which captivates attention on of the public. Only playing in the top division and competing against teams like Newcastle, Sheffield or Scottish Rocks gives us some chance to produce the spectacle on required level. We are at the very beginning of this road and amount of work which needs to be done in terms of marketing and promotion is simply frightening. But we have to do it and promote sport on the highest level of professionalism otherwise we simply will not survive on this very competitive market.''

One of the more recent underlying problems of British Basketball and its lack of development at international level, is the lack of experience gained in European competition.

London United intend to buck that trend and make a sustained impact in Europe over the coming seasons, just like Kevin Cadle's exploits with Kingston and the London Towers in the early to late nineties. Planned links to major Turkish sports club Besiktas JK and one of the Lithuanian club, are the first steps to achieving such goals. Recruiting Tony Garbelotto, who is renowned for getting the most out of his domestic players, will assure that young English players will get enormous exposure at international level. The hope is that by 2012, the BBL will be completely renovated and will once again attract the best players our country can produce.

''For us to fulfill all our ambitions means almost completely destroy myths and half truth which made English game so terribly stagnated. Let’s be honest that from European perspective English basketball is non-existent. Apart from Kevin Cadles’s Kingston and London Towers when they were owned by Marshals, there is nothing in English basketball which means anything in Europe.''

''London United will have to, in the very near future, compete in one of the European competitions. That is not as daunting and impossible as many people think. Both ULEB and FIBA are very keen on establishing organization in London which will regularly compete in their competitions.''

The planned link-up with Besiktas and Lithuanians is also a healthy experience for British Basketball.

''Another very important factor is a very cosmopolitan population of London and huge influx of eastern European migrants. These people are very basketball literate and have a huge appetite to watch top European competitions. In order to achieve that we are establishing already very close relationship with Besiktas Istanbul [ULEB Cup, next year] to use some of their young players in our team and to play regular games against them home and away.''

''Besiktas will visit London in the end of September and apart from us they will also play Newcastle and Sheffield. We try to establish similar relationship with one of the Lithuanian teams. We are very realistic and humble about our current position, but we are absolutely determined to have a constant contact with European basketball and learn from the best ones. That will be a very painful process at the beginning but surely must pay off within a couple of years. Another situation which needs to be tackled is a deep rooted conviction that only playing and studying in USA will guarantee career in basketball. That is suicidal, pathetic and hugely embarrassing to English game. New options must be explored for the overall good of our youth development.''

''For a long time now, the best and most promising English talent disappears to the US college system, and in it's current state, the BBL is not a route that many of our higher profile player aspire to when they are offered large paying contracts in Europe's elite leagues. More and more players are now moving into Europe, with early successes in the shape of Dan Clark and Joel Freeland with Estudiantes and Gran Canaria respectively in Spain. London United hope to get the current committed youth policy into full swing with exploration into Europe.''

''Basically what we are saying is, please go somewhere else to play basketball because in England there is nothing for you. There is very difficult to find more demoralizing scenario for young player. I will not even mention that such a situation create perfect ground for numerous shady characters who sell American Dream to many naive young English players and effectively break their careers. There is an absolute priority for London United and also English Basketball to establish properly organized junior programmes. As a club we will run 2 Basketball Academies in Richmond and Hackney, which apart from competing in domestic leagues must at least 3-4 times travel abroad. And we are not talking to play countries like Wales or Liechtenstein. We have to meet French, Belgium, German and similar countries teams on a regular basis. Most talented juniors will have a chance to play significant amount of minutes within the senior team.''

''We have to create scenario where young talented players will have chance to practice everyday and compete against top foreign opposition. That is the only way to stop them from going to mediocre schools in USA and use them to the benefit of English basketball - Timing of our move is absolutely crucial.''

''In 6 years East London will be a centre of most exiting sporting event in the world, the Olympic Games. This is one and only chance to change English basketball and as a matter of fact entire English sport for ever. Olympic Games have to change fundamentally change approach to professional sport in this country. We want to be part of that change. As a part of Olympic legacy programme there will big number of top class sports facilities which are crying for top class users participating in top class competitions.''

''There is no escaping from the fact that our ambitious plans need very solid financial backing. In order to succeed we have to work very closely with local authorities in all Olympic Boroughs and develop very close links with corporate environment of Docklands. For all price we have to create environment where basketball will be projected as professionally organized and run enterprise. We must change whole ethos of approaching sponsors. At the present time basketball as a sport is not viable partner for corporate business. Our only approach is to ask big business and TV in which way we have to change our game to gain their credibility. Then we have to follow their advice and pray that they want to work with us.''

With the new coach coming in, which is the highly respected Tony Garbelotto, it has been said that some problems may occur in the management stakes, but it appears to not be the case.

''The fact that some people suggest that there is not enough room for both of us in the same organization is pure example of backward thinking in English basketball. England is perhaps the only country where clubs [with very few exceptions] are one man bands, where one person is responsible for almost everything. That is not effective model and must be abandoned. In order to be seen as a valuable and creditable partner to business world, London United has to develop effective marketing, community, scouting, and PR departments. In our interest is to attract as many creative and forward thinking individuals to work for the club.Unfortunatelly English basketball community is blessed with very few of them. We would like to see London United as a think tank which constantly comes with new ideas to develop basketball in this country. Tony is one of the most creative and innovative people in English game if anything we need more people of his caliber in our organization. Purely on basketball level must say that our views are very similar so I can’t envisage any problems there.''

Gary Pidwill would like to say a special thanks to Jack Majewski and London United basketball club for an insight into London basketball.