The Benas Podcast

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#25 Martyna:

Martyna Motum is the wife of Brock Motum but certainly she has her own identity and is building her own career in the background. Martyna has finished her High School studies in Denmark, University studies in London and later obtaining a Master's Degree at the Euroleague program later on. After working for Zalgiris Kaunas and creating social media content, she eventually met Brock while he was playing in Kaunas and decided to build a future together abroad.

Today, Martyna and me talked about the challenges that coming with the "road-life" while moving to new countries with her husband and what it's like to build a social circle when living abroad. We also talked about the importance of having and continuing to build your own identity while being at home, looking for ways to build a career as well as the lifestyle behind the scenes. Life certainly changed when their son Maverick came into the world, which also presents its own challenges in a way. Meanwhile, Martyna is also building a new career of her own at BasketNews.com while traveling around Europe with her son and creating video content for the most popular european basketball platform.

Topics:

Finding Martyna:

Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/martynamotum/

Homepage - https://www.martynamotum.com/

- https://www.youtube.com/c/BasketNews_com/playlists

To support my Podcast on Patreon click here (Ačiu!!):

https://www.patreon.com/bmatke

#MartynaMotum #PlayerWife #Basketball #Career #MomLife #BasketNews

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www.bmatke.com

Matteo and me first met during his time as an agent while working for the “ProTalent” Agency under the helm of Maurizio Balducci, who served as a mentor for Matteo. Before he was an agent, he took his first steps at the Stellazzurra Basketball Academy in Rome. Meanwhile, Matteo is serving as the Chief of International Relations and Marketing at the NBPA office in New York, working to provide a better perspective and pathways for international players within the NBA.

Matteo has a rich experience of dealing with different cultures around the world and managing all the different challenged that arise during a season, helping International players to find their own ways and mentoring them throughout the whole process after being drafted.

Today, Matteo and me met at the NBPA office in NYC and enjoyed a great live-conversation in the Playstation room, where all the players usually come to relax during their training days. We sat down and talked about his work, about culture in general and the main differences between US & Europe. Off course, Identity is a huge part and we used this episode to discuss the challenges players deal with as they start their career, with all the noise and attention around them.

This was a special episode not only because it was filmed live with both of us in the same space but also because we talked about “Identity”, which is also a huge topic for me and my journey.

Timestamps for topics:

Finding Matteo:

Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/matteozuretti/

NBPA Twittter - https://twitter.com/TheNBPA?s=20&t=v3H050DBjPXh9ILj7DhNuQ

To support my Podcast on Patreon click here (Ačiu!!):

https://www.patreon.com/bmatke

#MatteoZuretti #NBPA #ChiefofInternationalRelations #International #NBA #NYC

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DONATE TO UKRAINE:

Lithuania: https://www.panrs.lt/krasto-apsaugos-ministerijos-rekomendacijos-del-paramos-ukrainai/

#22 Thorsten:

Topics:

Finding Thorsten:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thorsten.leibenath

To support my podcast on Patreon click here (Ačiu!!):

https://www.patreon.com/bmatke

#ThorstenLeibenath #SportsDirector #HeadCoach #RatiopharmUlm #BBL #Eurocup

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Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-b-podcast/id1558492852?uo=4

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#21 Freddie:

Fredrick Kleemichen grew up in Bremerhaven as the son of an American father and German mother, signed his first pro-contract in 2002 with Frankfurt (Opel) Skyliners at the age of 15 and moved to a new city with new hope and big dreams. “Freddie” as we all call him, is not a household name in the world of basketball right now but he definitely used to be! He had a roller-coaster journey from being one of the highly touted prospects in Germany to moving down the latter and playing in lower divisions on Frankfurt’s farm teams while the frustration was growing. He eventually cut ties with Frankfurt at an early stage of his career and despite having offers to play for other BBL clubs he decided to move to Germany’s newly formed ProA (2nd division) league and this is where our paths met. After having several successful seasons with the Cuxhaven BasCats he eventually decided to leave professional basketball behind and start his studies in business in order to prepare himself for life after basketball. He is now a successful COO (Chief Operating Officer) of the agency “Belle Etage Event”.

He was once hailed as ‘The Next Dirk Nowitzki’ and today he told his story on my podcast. Everything he had to live through and what the thinks young prospects need in their life as a ‘next big thing’. Listen to us talk about the importance of good mentorship early on, guidance and a helping-hand during tough times. The role that Holger Geschwindner played in his career and the genuine help he provided by implementing strong values in Freddie’s life. Freddie also talked about the ‘After-Life’, when it didn’t work out the way he hoped for, as well as the steps taken towards his new path.

Enjoy this different episode and share with PROSPECTS, YOUTH COACHES as well as CLUBS to have an idea what young prospects go through in terms of attention and lack of mentorship in place!

Topics:

Finding Freddie:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/fredrick-kleemichen-4626301a8/

To support my podcast on Patreon click here (Ačiu!!):

#Freddie #FredrickKleemichen #NextDirkNowitzki #MentalHealth #Mentorship

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Find Me:

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#20 Šaras:

Šarunas Jasikevičius is a successful Head Coach at Barcelona and his career is basically just getting started now but he already brought home domestic titles in Lithuania as well as Spain. As a player he has a rich experience between a variety of cultures, starting from the time when he left Lithuania at the age of 17 to live in the US, going from High School to later on joining the University of Maryland. When he returned to Europe as a player, his success just took off exponentially. He played in 7 different countries, in-between he also spent some time in the NBA as he played at Indiana and Golden State. Šaras won a long list of championships across Europe and is most certainly a future Hall of Famer. All the domestic titles and awards are too long to list, most notably would be that he is a four time Euroleague champion and was the FIBA Eurobasket MVP in 2003 when he became European Champion with Lithuania.

Topics:

Finding Šaras:

To support my podcast on Patreon click here (Ačiu!!):

#Šaras #ŠarunasJasikevičius #Coaching #FCBarcelona #Basketball #Challenges #Life #Golf #BreathingMethods

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Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bmatke/

…or just visit my website www.bmatke.com for more info.

#19 Claudio:   

Claudio Coldebella is a former Italian basketball player, GM of the Italian 2nd Division and currently a successful Sports Director at Unics Kazan. Claudio started his playing career in Mestre in 1986 before moving to Desio and Virtus Bologna later on. Claudio also has the experience of playing abroad, he spent 6 years of his career in Greece playing for AEK and PAOK before returning to Italy and finishing his career in Milano in 2006. Claudio also spent many summers with the Italian National Team and was also a big part of the Silver medal in the EuroBasket of 1997. He finished his successful career with plenty of titles, winning the Saporta Cup in 1990, 3 Italian league championships, the Italian cup as well as the Greek Cup in 1999.

Today, Claudio and me had a conversation about a lot of interesting topics around the job of a Sports Director. We talked about the importance of cultural adjustments for players and how his experience helped him help others today, the importance of watching practices, communicating with the Head Coach as well as players and the subtle art of building a culture within an organization.   

Topics:  

Finding Claudio:  

Twitter - https://twitter.com/ClaudioColde  

To support my podcast on Patreon click here (Ačiu!!):
 

https://www.patreon.com/bmatke   

#ClaudioColdebella #UnicsKazan #SportsDirector #Euroleague #Executive #Communication  

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Find “The Benas Podcast”: 

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 https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-b-podcast/id1558492852?uo=4  

Find Me: 

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bmatke/

#18 Noel:

Noel Mikaelian is an Armenian-German Cruiserweight Division Boxer who is currently on his quest to becoming World Champion and is without a doubt the #1 contender. He held the WBO youth world & WBO International cruiserweight title in 2014 & 2016.

After being born in Yerevan, Armenia he moved to Germany at a young age and started to box early on by watching his step-father Khoren Gevor, who was a world-class boxer in his own right. Noel is currently 24-2 with 10 wins coming by KO. His next fight is coming in the February, where he will continue his quest.

Today Noel and me talked about our common past as well as his early stages of boxing. He he shared his stories of sparring against his brother coming up, observing and learning from Khoren’s career as well the importance of proper preparation and what he does to wind down after big fights.

Expect also to hear what goes through his mind on fight-night, how he deals with video-analysis, what he cares about in terms of nutrition, supplementation and monitoring sleep. Oura Ring was a huge subject on this segment. Also, the importance of the inner circle when you build your career.

Enjoy this episode with my first non-basketball guest and share it with like-minded people who are curious about the world of boxing.

Topics:

Finding Noel:

Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/noelmikaelian/

To support my podcast on Patreon click here (Ačiu!!):

#Noel Mikaelian #Boxing #Champion #Armenia #Germany #Mentality #Mindset #Sparring #Training #Adversity #MentalRecovery #Nutritionofaboxer #OuraRing

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Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3Bw5UJNSQLKo0wUybEIza3

Stitcher: https://www.stitcher.com/show/the-benas-podcast

…or just visit my website www.bmatke.com for more info.

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Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bmatke/

#17 Daniele

Daniele Baiesi is currently a successful Sports Director at FC Bayern Munich. After leading Brose Bamberg to multiple domestic titles in Germany he continued his successful run at FC Bayern Munich in 2017 and has lead the team to multiple titles since his arrival as well. Daniele started his basketball career at Pallacanestro Biella in 2003 in the Italian league where he spent 6 years. The Detroit Pistons were his next stage where he worked as their international scout and had the pleasure to work alongside Joe Dumars before going to Bamberg and the rest is history.

Daniele and me had a very in-depth conversation about what the Sports Director job really is. We talked about his times at Biella and at the Detroit Pistons and what lessons he took away from working with Joe Dumars. Daniele went into depth about handling information within the club and went into depth about the Paul Zipser situation last season. Handling information internally vs externally, especially when building a roster and recruiting certain players, as well as the essence of crisis management and how he goes about it when he sees a crisis on the horizon.

Lots of great stories and metaphors with plenty of movie-quotes to go with. Enjoy this conversation and leave a review. SUBSCRIBE if you are not a subscriber yet and leave a comment if you have something to say.

Topics:

To support my podcast on Patreon click here (Ačiu!!):

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#DanieleBaiesi #FCBayernMunich #Basketball #SportsDirector #Euroleague #NBA #Italy #HowToBuildARoster #Crisis Management #HandlingInformation

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Stefan Weissenboeck is a player development coach at Brose Bamberg since 2010/11 season and has worked under the coaches Chris Fleming & Andrea Trinchieri most notably with whom he won multiple domestic titles during this period. He picked up basketball through his father and was committed early on as a player in Austria as well as one year at Hawaii-Pacific. After injuries derailed his playing career he turned to being an Assistant Coach before discovering the niche role of a Player Development coach. After playing for Arkadia Traiskirchen in Austria, a short stint in Lissabon and finishing his career at Nuernberg, he turned to being an Assistant there. Chris Fleming brought him to Bamberg and the rest is history. Players such as PJ Tucker, Brad Wanamaker, Kyle Hines, Brian Roberts, Daniel Theis, Marcus Slaughter went through his school of thought. He also worked with Jakob Poeltl from Austria as well Tomas Satoransky because of his Czech Republic connection.

Topics:

Finding Stefan:

Homepage - https://www.stefan-weissenboeck.com

To support my podcast on Patreon click here (Ačiu!!):

https://www.patreon.com/bmatke

#StefanWeissenboeck #BroseBamberg #BrooklynNets #NBA #PlayerDevelopment #Champion #Shooting #ShotDoctor #Nails

Find Me:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bmatke/

…or just visit my website www.bmatke.com for more info.