By Niki Bakouli/ bakouli@eurohoops.net
Kamil Novak was appointed last week as the new FIBA Europe’s Secretary General – even though the case of a possible legal battle about his predecessor Nar Zanolin is still open – and… we thought it was only normal to find his “whereabouts”.
When he was 18-year old (and 2.07… high) and while he was playing for Czech’s U18 National Team, at “Albert Schweizer” tournament, scouts from the Arizona State University invited him to join their program. He did that, but not for long, since he decided it was better for him to join the police force, in his native town (he was born οn the 15th of April, in1967 in Ostrava).
After he tried to commit to “serve and protect”, he realized his love for the game and he became a professional player. At first with NH Ostrava and in the meantime he studied sports management and economics, getting also a degree from Frankfurt University later on.
Overall, he played in Portugal, Austria, Luxembourg and Germany, where he announced his retirement, in 2005 -with 147 games with the national teams-, after he led Kronberg to BBL. It was the second time he got… a promotion in the top domestic league with a German club, after 1995 and Rhoendorf.
After his retirement, he… coached one game for Fraport Skyliners (as he revealed “over the years, Ι had many offers to coach teams, but it wasn’t something I wanted to do”) and then he became the club’s sports director, a chair he hold on to till… one day before he was elected as FIBA Europe’s new General Secretary. As a matter of fact, after the team’s loss at Bremerhaven, he announced he was leaving for Munich, where FIBA Europe’s headquarters are.
He thanked “the Fraport Skyliners and especially GM Gunnar Wobke for the support the last years” and he added “I had 10 exciting years in Frankfurt with highs and lows. I learned a lot in this time and will never forget it”, before he moved on to his new job: “Being named general secretary is a big honor and at the same time a huge challenge”.
His biggest rival from a list of 5 candidates who later on became 4, before they were two, was Goran Radonjic, ex-referee and commissioner from France. Νοvak’s nickname -from when he was a player- is “salami”, he is married and proud father of two kids. His son, Jan is a big prospect and Skyliners’ player and his daughter, Natalie is a member of Frankfurt’s swimming team.
He speaks English, Czech and German and he will have a tough job. As he said “I’m of course delighted but I’m also aware that there is no time for celebrations as there is a lot of hard work ahead of us. The next 12 months are expected to be the busiest in FIBA Europe history.” What he meant?
During last week’s FIBA Europe’s Board meeting, the members discussed all about the changes we are going to see, after the Olympics in 2016. Eurobasket tournaments will be played every four years (instead of two) and in the meantime, the teams will play qualification games for two years (yes, like UEFA’s system for national teams going to Euro). World Cups are going to be held also once every four years, but again the teams will fight for their qualification in two-year period. As you might… thought, the qualifications will be played during the seasons and for their… sake, the domestic leagues (together with the Euroleague) are going to fix their calendar accordingly. The gain for the players is going they will have time to rest two summers every four years. Τhat means that the leagues all around Europe will have from the 1rst of October till the 31rst of May to get their season completed.