FRA - Collet to visit France’s leading men in USA
PARIS (Olympics) - France have announced that coach Vincent Collet and national team director Patrick Beesley will travel to America next month to meet with the team’s leading players ahead of the Olympics.
Les Bleus booked a spot in the London Games by reaching the Final at EuroBasket 2011 in Kaunas, Lithuania, in September.
Collet and Beesley will be in the United States from 24 February to 3 March and will visit Portland’s Nicolas Batum, Chicago’s Joakim Noah, San Antonio’s Tony Parker and Charlotte’s Boris Diaw.
French Basketball Federation (FFBB) technical director Jean-Pierre de Vicenzi said: "It seems important to us that Patrick Beesley and Vincent Collet get the opportunity to meet before the preparations (for the Olympics) with the key players of the French national team.
“Together, they will be able to refine and shape the preparations that should allow France to build up for the Olympics in the best conditions possible.”
France have not played at the Olympics since the 2000 Sydney Games, when De Vicenzi coached them to a silver medal.
“This summer's get-together will be a special moment in the lives of our athletes and all those who are involved in French basketball must do everything in their power to make it a memorable/unforgettable time.”
The Olympics will be held in London from 27 July to 12 August.
Mickael Gelabale, meanwhile, is reportedly going to sign with BC Khimki in Russia after all.
The France sharpshooter had agreed to a move to the Moscow Region in December but the deal fell apart before Christmas after he failed a medical.
Gelabale hasn’t played this club season because of the ankle injury he picked up in Lithuania which hasn’t fully healed.
PARIS (Olympics) - France have announced that coach Vincent Collet and national team director Patrick Beesley will travel to America next month to meet with the team’s leading players ahead of the Olympics.
Les Bleus booked a spot in the London Games by reaching the Final at EuroBasket 2011 in Kaunas, Lithuania, in September.
Collet and Beesley will be in the United States from 24 February to 3 March and will visit Portland’s Nicolas Batum, Chicago’s Joakim Noah, San Antonio’s Tony Parker and Charlotte’s Boris Diaw.
French Basketball Federation (FFBB) technical director Jean-Pierre de Vicenzi said: "It seems important to us that Patrick Beesley and Vincent Collet get the opportunity to meet before the preparations (for the Olympics) with the key players of the French national team.
“Together, they will be able to refine and shape the preparations that should allow France to build up for the Olympics in the best conditions possible.”
France have not played at the Olympics since the 2000 Sydney Games, when De Vicenzi coached them to a silver medal.
“This summer's get-together will be a special moment in the lives of our athletes and all those who are involved in French basketball must do everything in their power to make it a memorable/unforgettable time.”
The Olympics will be held in London from 27 July to 12 August.
Mickael Gelabale, meanwhile, is reportedly going to sign with BC Khimki in Russia after all.
The France sharpshooter had agreed to a move to the Moscow Region in December but the deal fell apart before Christmas after he failed a medical.
Gelabale hasn’t played this club season because of the ankle injury he picked up in Lithuania which hasn’t fully healed.
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