Players earn BA Honours degrees in Leadership & Management through TIME-OUT initiative

MIES (Switzerland) - Several elite basketball players that have enjoyed many years as professionals are on their way to establishing new careers with the help of the FIBA Europe TIME-OUT program.

Katalin Honti (Hungary), Jiri Welsch (Czech Republic), Bostjan Nachbar (Slovenia), Rok Stipcevic (Croatia), Nicolas Dos Santos (Switzerland) and Robert Fultz (Italy) have earned BA Honours degrees in Leadership & Management from the Business School of Northumbria University in the United Kingdom.

By completing the three-year course, all six have invested in their future.

"This program was a very important step for me in my transition of careers," said Honti, a long-time Hungary international who competed for many years in the EuroLeague Women.

"I now have behind me a very difficult three years in which I gained a lot of useful knowledge that I can use in the future. I put a lot of energy and time into it, but it was worth it."

All six players learned about the connection between business and sport.

Welsch, who spent several years in the NBA before returning to compete in Europe, said: "TIME-OUT presented me with a unique opportunity to transfer myself from playing into the life after basketball. It came at the perfect time as I was pondering the end of my career.

"Inside the TIME-OUT, I met a lot of familiar faces, I made some new friends as well, I got to know key figures inside the FIBA organization but it especially gave me the chance to learn about the behind-the-scene aspects of our sport. It was a great way to start my second career which I hope to be as successful as the first one."

Each of the students has begun to rely on a strong players support system

"I met a lot of people and built a network of contacts in the world of basketball," Honti said.

The original article can be found here.

Friday, 31 July 2020