POSTOJNA (Slovenia) – For nearly two decades, there has been no better place to be in July for a young European woman who aspires to take the next step in her career as a basketball coach or referee than the town of Postojna, in Slovenia.
That’s not because of the undisputed natural beauty of the place, which would be reason enough to visit on its own right, but because the picturesque town in the southwestern corner of Slovenia has become synonymous with the FIBA Europe Women’s Basketball Summit for the past 18 years.
The 28 referees who took part in the Postojna Summit this July
The continued success of the program, which FIBA Europe organizes in collaboration with the Slovenian Basketball Federation (KZS), has seen its integration into FIBA’s overall Women in Basketball strategy.
The 2025 edition of the Summit took place from July 8-12 with the participation of 23 female coaches and 28 female referees representing various countries around Europe.
The 23 coaches at the 2025 Summit
Julie Barennes, head coach of French EuroLeague Women club Basket Landes, and Silvia Font, coach at the Spanish Elite Girls Academy Siglo XXI, were the FIBA instructors for the coaches’ branch.
Meanwhile Spanish FIBA referee Ariadna Chueca and Slovak FIBA referee Veronika Obertova were the instructors who put the participants through their paces on the referee branch.
The Summit’s curriculum consisted of a wide array of activities, including clinics for both coaches and referees, workshops and role-play sessions.
FIBA Head of Women in Basketball & Special Projects Betty Cebrian (in the middle) posing with the instructors
The participants had the chance during these sessions to explore topics such as rules interpretation, game analysis, scouting, 3PO Officiating or physical preparation, while FIBA psychologist Dubravka Martinovic delivered a master class in stress management and mental preparation.
Additionally, the referees also had the chance to officiate games in a warm-up tournament taking place in the area for youth national teams that are preparing for both the upcoming FIBA U16 Women’s EuroBasket and the FIBA U16 EuroBasket.
As is customary every summer, the Summit concluded with the instructors selecting the five coaches and two referees who will participate in the upcoming season’s FIBA Europe Mentoring Program.
The coaches who were chosen as mentees for the 2025-26 season are Valeriya Bespalko Pichuguna from Azerbaijan, Lea Soltau from Germany, Fruzsina Szendrei from Hungary, Agnes Jakab from Romania, Molly McDowell from the Netherlands who was a member of the 2024 group, and Sophie Wich from Denmark, who will defer participation to the 2026-27 season. On the referee side, the selected participants are Andriani Kyprianou from Cyprus and Jemina Vidgren from Finland.
During the year-long program, the mentees will benefit from virtual webinars and individual mentoring, and will also travel to events to work hand- in-hand with their program mentors.
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