MBC - Third Year in Progress!

The Q&A with kids is the toughest part:-)

MBC stands for Meshcheryakov Basketball Club - a relatively new entity created in the Fall of 2009. Currently there are over 100 kids in four age groups learning the game of basketball in my hometown Minsk, Belarus.

The Class of 1997 team is the oldest in MBC - they're almost my height! And there is a guy that likes number 55!

After years of playing basketball abroad and evaluating the situation with youth basketball in Belarus, I realized that there was a need for a new approach to coaching young talent. As a result, MBC opened its doors in September 2009.

Shooting Drills... Check out the uniforms - kids love their names on the back!

Hopefully I can guide these kids in the right direction...

Together with my friend Valery Gorelikov we decided to take action and become pioneers in opening the first ever private basketball club in Belarus. Funding was obviously important, but the biggest issue was assembling young & promising coaches who were willing to work hard and develop players according to the world’s best practices.

Besides, our goals were to provide the kids with the best basketball uniforms & equipment available and get them excited by putting their last names on the jerseys so they could proudly say ‘We are from Minsk, Belarus and represent MBC!’ Last but not least, we made sure to use the vast basketball experience of nearby Lithuania and coordinate our efforts with Sabonis and Marciulionis (Lithuanian national heroes and former NBA stars) youth clubs.

MBC motto: The Future Begins Today... 

So far the players and the coaches gave us reasons to celebrate - last season we had four age categories for boys teams classified by the year of birth - team 1997, team 1998, team 1999 and team 2000. First three MBC teams have won their respective Belarus Youth Championships and the 2000 team was a runner-up. Now it is time to work hard and finally beat those Lithuanians! :-)