Something big from something small – little Slovenia, leading by example

Maxibasketball has been played in Slovenia for about 30 years. However, there are not very many maxibasketball clubs in Slovenia having such a tradition as the Maxibasketball Club of Prule in Ljubljana, which symbolizes the renaissance of maxibasketball in Slovenia. In 1976, due to differing opinions on sports, there was a national decision to centralize basketball clubs, which meant that many clubs went under. But, true sportsmen never give up…

Through the kind of willpower so characteristic of sportspeople, many teams were saved and then renamed »maxi« teams. We independently organized and began to arrange friendly games and tournaments with other clubs who had suffered the same fate. The tournaments became more frequent, then a tradition, and soon even international. In 1979 we took part in our first maxibaskteball tournament abroad, in Germering near Münich, Germany. From that time onwards there has never been a year where maxibasketball clubs, such as Prule, have not participated in at least some tournaments either at home or abroad, at first mostly in neighboring countries and later throughout Europe. We have played and at the same time promoted Slovenian maxibasketball from Athens, Belgrade, Zagreb, Trieste, Venice, Alassia, Vienna, Brno, Pšerov, Esztergom, Münich, Hamburg, Berlin, Riga… to Helsinki.

“Whoever fights may lose, whoever doesn't fight has already lost“(Franz Kafka). This is the slogan that lead the clubs and the Slovenian Maxibasketball League towards new challenges and a new era in 1997 when the first men's club represented Slovenia at the 4th World Maxibasketball Championship in Helsinki, Finland. From that point on more and more women’s and men’s teams have entered FIMBA championships for Slovenia. This represents an amazing degree of participation for a country with only 2 million people, making Slovenia quite an example. The table shows the participation of Slovenian women's and men's teams at FIMBA world championships; on average 8 teams took part, which means an 8% Slovenian participation rate at championships, which is enviable.

The enthusiasm of Slovenians in their support for basketball and a demonstration of its quality are shown in the number of medals won. Out of more than 50 participating countries in FIMBA championships, the two million-strong Slovenia is in third place with 24 medals (behind Brazil with 183 million inhabitants and the USA with 282), which is quite an achievement. By number of medals won at FIMBA competitions, Slovenia is number one in Europe!

No one who participated in the 6th World Maxibasketball Championship in Ljubljana, Slovenia in 2001 will ever forget it. The event was a great success for which the organizing committee and the event sponsor, the City of Ljubljana, received a number of international written notes of recognition and thanks. A special honor was given to the organizing committee in January 2005 in Christchurch, New Zealand, when they were named the Best FIMBA event organizer from 1991 to 2004 and received the first time ever Eduardo Award.

All the efforts which have brought about this success and recognition, as well as the greater social importance of the development and movement of maxibasketball in Slovenia, have lead to the establishment of the Commission for Maxibasketball in 2004 under the Basketball Federation of Slovenia (more information available at http://www.kzs-zveza.si). The commission is made up of two women and three men with the aim of promoting, supporting and organizing maxibasketball.

In 2004, we organized the first Maxibasketball Day with the slogan: »A healthy mind in a healthy body and getting to know one another«. The Maxibasketball Day, which is organized alternately by the women's and men's team of the host in various regions of Slovenia, and has become a day of manifestation of Slovenian men's and women's maxibasketball, as well as a social gathering. This is an important event, which has more and more followers among basketball lovers every year.

One of the purposes of this movement is the creation of a national 40+ maxibasketball league, which should grow into a regional movement in the middle of Europe through the example of the well-established maxibasketball competition Alpe-Adria or named the European Maxibasketball League, which should expand even further. This competition, which is coordinated by Slovenia, will take place in 2008 for the thirteenth year running, and brings together 12-16 men’s teams from Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Italy, Slovakia and the Czech Republic (more information is available at http://www.zbogompamet.com).

New teams in new centers will bring people joy and keep a number of basketball lovers in good physical condition, as well as in good numbers, which is one of the goals of Slovenian recreational sports. We estimate that there are around 1000 players of maxibasketball organized in clubs throughout Slovenia. In the past few years there has been a noticeable trend to include former professional players, which gives the entire movement a more weight and makes it more attractive.

A number of maxi-clubs organize a numerous international tournaments throughout Slovenia every year, following the good example of the legendary club from Ljubljana that has this year organized the 28th consecutive international Maxibasketball tournament since 1980. The goal of the tournament and get-together is to gather the greatest number of participants, as well as promotion and getting to know one another, which is the purpose of the social evening. At the 28th tournament on December 1, 2007, one of the most well-known Slovenian players said: »I was so happy to have received your invitation to play on the maxi-team’s in 1999, which keeps me in shape and has given me the opportunity to see the world, which I otherwise would never have seen.«

That is why we agree with the FIMBA slogan: "Don’t add age to your life but life to your age" - and play basketball non-stop.


Dr. Vincenc Butala
President of Commission for Maxibasketball at Basketball Federation of SloveniaVice President FIMBA Europe