This week’s interview is with Don Showalter, who never lost as head coach of the USA cadet team at the FIBA U16 Americas Championship and FIBA U17 Basketball World Cup - claiming 10 gold medals at the continental or world level from 2009 to 2010. Now he is serving for USA Basketball as the Coach Director, Youth & Sport Development.
Before we get into the talk with Don Showalter, we would like to give you a sneak peak of the Taking The Charge Prospects Podcast with Finnish power forward Mikael Jantunen - which is part of the paid subscription section of the TTC substack.
3:05 - Mikael Jantunen sneak preview
Okay, then let’s get to the big interview for the week. As mentioned, this is our chat with Don Showalter and we talk about the following topics:
7:50 - Duties as coach director, youth and sports development with USA Basketball - and his history with Dirk Nowitzki
11:25 - how USA Basketball finds high character guys
18:00 - how do you put together a team in such a short time before a competition
23:30 - do any of the FIBA U17 Basketball World Cup titles mean more than any of the others
28:40 - Falling behind Canada by more than 20 points early in the second quarter of the Final of the FIBA U16 Americas Championship 2015 and coming back
35:15 - About the 2014 FIBA U17 Basketball World Cup Final - a 99-92 win over Australia
39:40 - Is the world actually catching up with the rest of the United States?
45:05 - Shotclock in the United States
50:30 - A look ahead to the United States at the FIBA U17 Basketball World Cup 2022.
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Taking The Charge: Don Showalter, former U16/U17 head coach USA Basketball