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Dear Coaches, Teachers, Managers, Friends and Readers;
Biography and autobiography books written about sports are insufficient in our country. There are almost no such books written primarily on basketball.
Dear Mete Ağabey, as a basketball person who is aware of this situation, explains his reasons for writing his autobiography as follows in the foreword of his book:
“The first reason is the suggestion from dear Selçuk and Ernak, ‘Brother, elders like you, who have been coaching for many years, should definitely write about their experiences.’
As the second reason; The desire to leave a written work that will perhaps give an idea or a light to our young colleagues who will come after us, and the idea that this book can guide them and help them to come up with ideas,
As the third reason; I was working at Tofaş when my daughter was born. I had a very busy schedule in the league and Europe. In addition, I could not witness my daughter grow up due to my duties in the national teams. When he started school, I lost track of time. When I realized it, school life had started. The idea of “Maybe, thanks to this book, he will understand me and appreciate my pace and intensity”…
Dear Mete Babaoğlu, I would like to point out that I find brother’s second and third reasons very important. Young coaches and basketball fans on the field ‘bright lights’ I find dear Mete Ağabey’s book very valuable in terms of helping them understand what difficulties and pain the coaches they see under them experience behind the scenes and how difficult the path they take is.
One of the reasons why I find the book important and valuable is; Dear Brother Mete is a Physical Education Teacher and has been teaching for years, and in the book he explains to all young coaches that “everyone who will coach must definitely coach a school team”.
Dear Coaches, Teachers, Managers and Our Readers;
I had the chance to get to know Mete better during the 1st away league competitions between 2000-06. We were rivals with him for 6 years. During those difficult times, he never once acted to hurt me or our team. Before he became a successful basketball coach, his calm nature and kindness were an example to all of us.
Dear Brother Mete, while he was studying at secondary school in Konya, he was asked by his basketball coach. ‘He was kicked out of the door 3 times and entered through the window and chimney 4 times’, After his first coach, Hasan Özkaplan, told him not to come back, I found out his coach’s home address and wrote a letter asking him to join the team again. I learned about his basketball life until today and the hardships he went through when I read his autobiography.
In the book;
Karşıyaka basketball team, one of the important sports clubs of Turkish basketball, which has been experiencing great difficulties in recent years, ‘from its infrastructure’ He won both the league and the President’s Cup with 8 trained players,
Why Mete Ağabey could not be transferred to Efes Pilsen in the 1985-86 season, his story of becoming the head coach of Tofaş, how they converted the victory after beating Efes Pilsen 94-74 in the 1990-1991 season into a bonus, his resignation after an unpleasant dialogue with his beloved Efe Aydan among the National Team after winning 8 of 8 matches, and the story of his return from resignation,
Dear Mete Ağabey’s press conference after losing by 7 points in the first match to Siena, Italy’s best team, in the third round of the European Cup. “An atmosphere like hell awaits you in Bursa” What happened in Bursa after he said,
The life of the boy born in 1979, who was previously tried and sent away after becoming the infrastructure manager of Oyak Renault basketball team in the 1994-95 season, but was tried again upon the request of the late Atilla Tapşin Ağabey, extending to the NBA.
He did not accept the transfer offer from Tekel Club in the 2006 season because of his daughter’s school, why Nihat Mala, the team’s manager, told Mete Ağabey “don’t accept the transfer offer” in response to the transfer offer from Karşıyaka Sports Club, the recovery of the team after he took office, how Mete Ağabey persuaded the athletes at breakfast after informing Mete Ağabey that the players who could not get their money decided not to go to training,
His return to his birthplace, Konya, where he stepped into basketball in the 2007-08 season,
The parting of ways with two foreign players in Mersin in the 2010-2011 season as a result of incorrectly written numbers in foreign player contracts,
He went through the most troubled period of his career in the 2012-13 season, Will Solomon, who was included in the squad after a foreign player returned to the USA, did not arrive on time for the Aliağa away game, so the journey was started without Solomon, and the dialogue that took place after Solomon arrived at the hotel,
He accepted the task of coaching Best Balıkesir as the TBL team in the 2014-15 season, and had to spend 5 months in Manisa F-type prison as a result of an unfortunate traffic accident after leaving for Izmir in a very depressed mood after losing the first match in the league,
After taking over the Best Balıkesir team from our beloved Hakan Yavuz in the 2015-16 season, Best Balıkesir’s surprising rise to the BSL among the assertive teams,
Following his transfer to Aliağa Petkim in the 2017-18 season, after they won the away match against Bursaspor, the team’s manager, dear Levent, came to Mete Ağabeyin and said, “Brother, the president called from Istanbul and watched the match on TRT and says replace Tre Kelley.” Mete Ağabeyin said to Levent. “Okay, tell the president, there is training on Monday at 18.00, come and train the team.” You will enjoy reading about the separation that came 6 matches after his statement, what dear brother Mete went through in the National Teams and tournaments, which athletes he played a role in training and which athletes he worked with…
Dear Coaches, Teachers, Managers, Friends and Readers;
While reading Dear Brother Mete’s autobiography, I would like to state that I am extremely happy that Mete Brother persistently and underlined the issues that I have been trying to touch upon for years. In this context, I think there are important lessons we need to learn from autobiography…
If I were to list them briefly:
Being successful in life is very important, but more important than business success is the life and concept of ‘FAMILY’,
The shortest way today! Without getting tired! Without pain! Young coaches who are trying to coach at a high level must accept that they have to work and train like crazy, summer and winter, and that it takes years to deserve to get somewhere,
Today, our infrastructures, whose roots have been planted with match water, are actually the most important building block of the country’s basketball and a ‘MUST HAVE’, and the foundations of a healthy A team pass through infrastructures,
Promotion and success in coaching is not just about knowing basketball, but human relations and communication are as important as basketball knowledge,
The words ‘No matter how many foreign players you equip the team with, Turkish players will establish team chemistry’ belong to our dear brother Mete. I believe we should frame these words and hang them on our walls.
How novice managers who do not know basketball harm the country’s basketball,
I believe that today it is easy to access information, but it is achieved through experience, and that this situation is much more than knowledge, and that we need to learn important lessons from its subjects…
Dear Readers;
In the book, you will find beautiful and valuable archival photographs and newspaper clippings from the past years. The book is a very valuable resource for us to remember our recent basketball history and for those who do not know what happened.
I sincerely thank Mete Ağabey for writing everything as it is and for thinking that young coaches can learn from their own experiences.
I would like to give a special thank you for the ‘Darüşşafaka bookmark’ that contributed to Darüşşafaka and included in the book…
I would also like to thank dear Selçuk for his encouragement to Mete Brother to write his autobiography and leave a lasting work.
The book is full of very important and valuable anecdotes. I hope I didn’t make a mistake while shortening the article so it wouldn’t be too long. If I made any mistakes or omissions, I apologize to dear brother Mete…
Kind regards.
Note: Mete Babaoğlu reads the 5th Period book.
Those who want to get it, Mete Babaoglu (@metebabaoglu) instagram
They can request it from.
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