ABSTRACT
Over the past two decades, Spanish basketball has become a global powerhouse. The success of the men's and women's national teams at World Championships, Olympic Games, and European Championships, and the domination of junior national teams at the European level has been unmatched, except for the USA. The quality of coaching in the performance pathway has been proposed as central to these accomplishments. In this chapter, we start by providing a brief overview of the history of basketball in Spain and its success factors. The origins and current status of coach education are then explored, followed by a deep analysis of the education, identification, and development of coaches in the youth performance pathway. Through the personal experiences of the authors, multiple conversations with relevant actors over the last 20 years, document examination, and paper reviews, the main features of the youth performance coaching system are identified and discussed.
