Basketball Ireland are delighted to announce the addition of Laura Antoja and Gianmarco Di Matteo to the line up for the Basketball Ireland Coaching Conference, joining Joerik Michiels at the National Basketball Arena on August 23rd and 24th.
Laura Antoja during her most recent job as head coach of UNI Girona CB.
Laura was a professional player who played at the highest level in Spain winning 10 trophies in a highly decorated career before transitioning to coaching in2015. She has coached from grassroots right up to elite level and was most recently head coach of UNI Girona CB in the top division in Spain and in the Eurocup while also serving as assistant coach on the Angola men's National team who qualified for the FIBA World Championships in 2023.
Gianmarco Di Matteo gives out instructions to his players.
Viewed as one of the most talented coach educators by FIBA Coaching Europe, Gianmarco has been a professional coach since 2017 and has been lead assitant coach in the Italian top division since 2021, first with Derthona Basket and more recently Scafati Basket. In that time his teams have won the Italian Supercup and made the Cup Finals on a furt
He is a recent graduate of the FIBA FECC coaching certificate, a two year programme with coaches from all over Europe, and Gianmarco was awarded "best in class" of the 52 coaches who graduated the programme. Since 2022 he has been responsible for video breakdown for FIBA for basketball analysis of the Basketball Champions League, FIBA Europe Cup, Eurobasket and the Olympics as well as serving as video analyst for multiple Italian International teams since 2015.
Gianmarco will deliver three sessions over the two days at the conference covering on ball screens and adjustments, game preparation, video analysis, self scouting and defensive drills building from from 1v1 to group tactics.
Joerik Michels (right) has worked with players at every level from grassroots to FIBA and the NBA.
Joerik Michiels, founder of Elite Athletes, with over 15 years of coaching experience across 40+ countries. He has worked with players of all levels, from grassroots to elite, including collabotaing with the NBA and FIBA. One of the pioneers in applying small-sided games and the constraint-led approach to skill development, Joerik focusing on creating real-game situations that enhance decision-making, adaptability, and skill execution, helping athletes grow in dynamic enviorments that closely mirror the challenges of actual competition.
Joerik will be presenting three sessions over the two days.