About us

We are the ESCCA

Euroleague
Strength & Conditioning Coaches Association

The ESCCA was born from our desire to connect with each other. To communicate, share our knowledge and experiences with the purpose of bettering ourselves and help our athletes. We wish to use our unique platform to support and promote the field of basketball performance training in Europe and the world.

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ESCCA-Euroleague-Strength-and-Conditioning-Coaches-Association

Our philosophy

We thrive together

The aim of ESCCA is not to be an elite group of strength and conditioning coaches. Openness, inclusion and a broad reach to the European and global strength and conditioning community lay at the foundation of this Association.

WHAT WE DO

Our activities

Annual Live and Online Events

Educational Courses

Regional Meetings

Articles and Videos

ESCCA

Our Members

ESCCA members include strength and conditioning coaches that are currently employed or were employed in the past year by a team competing in the Euroleague

Luka Slivar - Speaker 2nd Basketball Strength Conditioning coach conference

Luka Svilar

Bayern Munchen

Luka Svilar

Luka is an enthusiastic physical performance specialist, S&C coach, international author and lecturer. He earned his Master of Kinesiology degree from the Faculty of Kinesiology at the University of Zagreb, having won multiple awards for exceptional study achievements. During his master studies, Luka also studied as an exchange student at Jan Komensky University’s School of Physical Education and Sports in Slovakia as well as at the School of Medicine at Lund University in Sweden. He did his first full-season internship as a S&C coach in the basketball club of Zagreb. After graduation, Luka was accepted for a lecturing position at the University of Zagreb.

Coach Svilar has worked with athletes of different sports and levels, mainly in tennis, soccer and volleyball although his primary focus has always been on basketball. After his internship, he worked with youth and senior teams in Croatia and won a gold medal with the U18 team at the Eurobasket Championship in 2012. Luka also spent one season in Turkey acting as a strength and conditioning coach at Türk Telekom Basketball. In 2016, he moved to Vitoria-Gasteiz, Spain to work with Baskonia, one of Europe’s most iconic basketball teams.
While an active coach at Baskonia, Luka took the next step in his academic education by successfully defending his PhD project called Load monitoring and management in elite basketball at the University of the Basque Country in Vitoria-Gasteiz 2018. As a recognition of his academic achievements, Luka received the annual FIEP Vladimir Findak Award (fr the academic year 2017/18) for young researchers for his notable achievements in science.

Besides coaching, field-related writing is another passion of Luka. He has published several papers related to sports training, physical performance, injury prevention and load monitoring and he has also co-authored the book Functional movement preparation for basketball.
Luka’s professional goal is to help players achieve and maintain their peak physical performance as well share his knowledge with other enthusiasts in the field.

Kostas Chatzichristos

Fenerbahce Beko

Kostas Chatzichristos

Kostas Chatzichristos is currently the Director of Performance at CSKA Moscow Basketball and is responsible for player athletic development and rehabilitation. The two times European Champion with CSKA has held similar positions in elite basketball teams in Europe (Olympiacos BC, Panionios BC) and the US (University of Georgia). Since, 2021 he joined the Greek National Men’s team in the staff of coach Rick Pitino.

Kostas is also a co-founder at Performance22Lab, a state-of-the-art rehabilitation and performance center located in his hometown Athens, Greece, where he has been training athletes of all levels, ages and different sports. He is mostly known for his ongoing work with professional basketball players, as he has work with some of the best male and female basketball players of this generation helping them perform at their best or/and rehabilitate from injury.

A frequent speaker at international and national educational events, Kostas has also authored numerous articles in fitness publications and has produced educational products for coaches and athletes.

Kostas holds a master’s degree in Exercise Physiology and Sports Nutrition from the University of Texas at Austin and a bachelor’s degree in Sports Science from the University of Athens.

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Jairo Vazquez

FC Barcelona

Jairo Vazquez

Jairo Vázquez is currently the strength and conditioning coach for the Barcelona Basketball Professional Team, being in charge of player physical performance and load monitoring. He is a member of the Department of Sport Performance at FC Barcelona and has also worked as the strength and conditioning coach for different Spanish National Basketball teams (U13, U16, U18 and U22).

Jairo holds a degree in Physical Activity and Sport Sciences from the Physical Education National Institute in Barcelona, Spain and is a PhD holder with his thesis titled “Adaptations of strength training in different instability conditions”. He also obtained a Professional Master in High Performance in Team Sports (Barça Innovation Hub, Inefc and Byomedic System) leaded by Paco Seirul.lo. Finally, Jairo is a Scholarship recipient from the Sports Council of Spain for The ALTITUDE Project in swimming.

Coach Vasquez is a frequent speaker at local, as well as international educational events covering topics in sport performance, fitness and health. He has also authored scientific articles about basketball monitoring loads and resistance training with rotational inertial devices.

Regev Fanan

Maccabi Tel Aviv

Regev Fanan

Regev “Reggie” Fanan is the Head Strength and Conditioning Coach of the legendary Maccabi Tel Aviv Basketball Club since 2015. Before he was named head strength coach, he was an assistant at Tel Aviv for three years and part of the team that won the 2014 Euroleague trophy. Apart from Maccabi, Reggie has worked as head strength and conditioning at the Israeli Women National Team and personally trains elite basketball and soccer players that seek to maximize their athletic potential.

Fanan is a graduate of Zinman school for coaches and the Wingate Institute with a specialization of strength and conditioning for basketball and soccer. He also attended the Tel Aviv University School for Coaches studying weight training. Reggie’s extensive experience in basketball includes him being a professional basketball player for eight years, again in his beloved Maccabi, when he has won three Euroleague titles.

Ozan Sirikci

Anadolu Efes

Ozan Sirikci

Ozan Sirikci is the Head Strength and Conditioning Coach of Anadolu Efes, one of the top teams in Turkish Airlines Euroleague, a position he holds since 2013. He is responsible for player evaluation, injury management and of course, strength and conditioning program design.

Coach Sirikci has extensive experience in working with elite basketball teams since he has held similar positions in Fenerbahce , TrabzonSpor and Ulker – Alpella. During 2009 – 2013 season he was the head strength and conditioning specialist for the both Men’s and Women’s Turkish Basketball National Teams. In 2012 he participated with the later in the London Olympics. Ozan also had the opportunity to work with many competitive athletes of different levels and abilities helping them improve their physical performance and/or recover from injury.

A graduate of Osmangazi University – Medical Faculty with a specialization in General Human Physiology and Exercise Physiology, Coach Sirikci also holds a degree in Physical Education and Sport Science from Anadolu University. His love for learning and personal development has led him around the world where he studied human performance in diverse environments like EXOS ( former Athlete’s Performance) , Functional Movement Systems and Cybex International. He also holds certifications in track and field coaching, basketball and pedagogy,

Ozan is a frequent speaker in training and physiotherapy science in seminars, conferences and workshops in Turkey and around the world.

Pepe Silva

Alba Berlin

Pepe Silva

A native of Villanueva de Cordoba, Spain, Jose obtained his bachelor’s degree in Physical Activity and Sports Sciences in 1994 from the University of Valencia, Spain, with a specialization in basketball. Since then, he has continuously worked as a basketball athletic development coach in several teams and settings in different countries, namely in Valencia Basket, Ros Casares, Fenerbahce BC Women’s team, Kastoria, Romania’s Women’s National Team and Sibiu.

Currently, he is the head strength and conditioning coach of Alba Berlin that competes in the prestigious Euroleague, as well as the German professional league. In Alba, Coach Silva has found an ideal environment to apply his cumulative experience and knowledge in performance enhancement and rehabilitation, as the team fully supports his work by providing him all the necessary tools to achieve his pursuits.

Apart from coaching, Pepe is passionate about learning and thus he takes advantage of every opportunity to expand his knowledge, whether it is reading scientific publications, attending events or talking to other professionals in the sports’ world. His long and diverse career has allowed him to have a wealth of experiences working in all categories of basketball, from children to senior, male and female, in different countries and cultures and interacting with different coaches, assistants and therapists.

Jure Drakslar

Unics Kazan

Jure Drakslar

Jure Drakslar graduated as a Strength and Conditioning Coach at University of Ljubljana, Slovenia. Currently he is working as a S&C coach and rehabilitation specialist, UNICS Kazan.

Prior to UNICS, he held the same position at Khimki Moscow region. Jure started his professional career 18 years ago at BC Slovan where he was 5 years responsible for athletic development of one of the best European prospects, among which were Goran Dragić, Zoran Dragić, Jan Vesely and others. Before going abroad Jure was working 3 seasons as S&C coach at BC Union Olimpija youth teams. In the meanwhile, he was hired to establish S&C system and educate local S&C coaches at BC Spars Sarajevo and BC USK Praha. Before joining BC Khimki in 2018, he was 3 seasons S&C coach at the top Polish basketball team BC Zielona Gora, which was at that time playing Euroleague and Eurocup and later FIBA Champions League.

Jure is personal off-season S&C coach of many top-level basketball players, including one of the world’s best basketball player, Luka Doncić. In his 17-year career as a pro S&C coach he has worked with various Slovenian National Teams (1 season senior Basketball NT, 4 seasons U20 Basketball NT, 4 seasons Swimming NT, 1 season Rowing NT).

Besides performance training and rehabilitation, Jure has a great passion in continuous education and passing his knowledge and experience to others who are willing to learn.

Sebastian Böhm

Alba Berlin

Sebastian Böhm

Since his teenage years in his hometown Karlsruhe/Germany, Sebastian has been coaching youth teams in American football, a game he played himself on the highest European level. Although being a general sports-enthusiast with an interest in an array of disciplines, he always had a strong connection to basketball and in particular to his hometown team PSK Lions.

Sebastian has worked as an S&C coach in different fields and was consultant to triathletes and olympic mountain bikers. He earned his master’s degree in sports management from the Ostfalia University of Applied Sciences and his diploma in training science from AFSM Salzburg. Recovery, sleep, nutrition and cognitive training are among his special fields of interest – areas in which he received further qualification in Germany and abroad. Before joining the ALBA Berlin performance staff, he spent two seasons in Spanish soccer as the head of sports science of CD Atlético Baleares.

At ALBA Berlin he is supporting Pepe Silva with conditioning, rehabbing and everything related to tracking and monitoring. As the “invisible coach” of the pro team, he is taking care of optimizing nutrition and recovery within the demanding Euroleague and BBL schedule, while he’s also preparing ALBA’s prospects in the youth academy for the next level.