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LATROBE, PA — Julien Vonovier, a junior majoring in sports management with a minor in data analytics at Saint Vincent College, put his classroom lessons to work this past summer as an assistant coach for Switzerland's U16 basketball national team.
Switzerland finished third in Division B of the International Basketball Federation U16 European Championship (FIBA EuroBasket) in Skopje, North Macedonia. Switzerland beat Belgium, 80-75, on Aug 17 to notch its best-ever finish in a FIBA EuroBasket tournament and its first promotion to Division A.
"It was amazing," said Vonovier, 22, a native of Pully, Switzerland. "Beating Belgium was a big surprise because they have a lot of big-time players. People were like, 'What is this? This is not the usual Switzerland.' So, it was great."
After the tournament, Vonovier celebrated Switzerland's third-place finish with a post on his LinkedIn page. Véronique Hulmann, the Swiss ambassador to North Macedonia, replied: "Congratulations for this exceptional performance!! Great team, great coaches! Bravo!"
A guard on the Saint Vincent men's basketball team, Vonovier last season played in seven games off the bench and this year will compete for increased playing time. FIBA EuroBasket 2024 marked his coaching debut.
"I had the opportunity to apply the principles from my Saint Vincent management courses in real-world settings, observing their practical implementation in major event management and communication," Vonovier said. "The meticulous preparation for our games helped me to deepen my knowledge of data analytics. Mastery of these tools proved to be one of the keys to our success. I did not sleep much, preparing the games until late at night, but it was worthwhile."
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Don Paul "DP" Harris, Saint Vincent's director of athletics and men's basketball head coach, recruited Vonovier out of DME Academy in Daytona Beach, Florida. Harris was not surprised that Vonovier found success at EuroBasket 2024.
"Coaching is in Julien's DNA," Harris sad. "I think Julien is going to be a superstar in coaching, or maybe as a general manager or an agent. One thing we always tell kids when they come here is the sky's the limit; there are no limitations on what they can become and do."
Vonovier has worked for an agency that matches European basketball players with high schools and colleges in the United States and Canada. He said playing for Harris the past two seasons inspired him to get into coaching.
"Julien found his passion when he came here," Harris said. "All we want to do is help him, kind of give him a road map — or in this case, an airline ticket — that allows him to be successful. After that, we hope he opens the door for the next guy to walk through."
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Growing up, Vonovier played on youth teams (U8 through U20) sponsored by the Pully Lausanne Foxes, a Swiss professional basketball club. He came to the United States about four years ago to figure out if basketball will become his career.
"When you finish high school in Switzerland, you have to choose if you'll go [to college] or play basketball. You cannot do both," he said. "It's very hard to make that decision. It's a very different mentality than here, where you can play sports while you're a student. [Studying in America] gives me a few extra years to make up my mind about what to do later in life."
Next summer, Vonovier is planning to expand his coaching résumé. He's mulling an offer to be on Switzerland's coaching staff for the FIBA U19 Basketball World Cup. The nine-day tournament will be held in Lausanne, Switzerland, with the championship game set for July 6, 2025.
"Hopefully, we'll play against the USA," Vonovier said. "I can't wait to experience the World Cup, and to have it in my city will be amazing."
Pully is a suburb of Lausanne, a city of about 140,000 people on the shores of Lake Geneva. The Lausanne region hosts the headquarters of the International Olympic Committee, the Court of Arbitration for Sport, Maison de Sport International and more than 40 international sports organizations.
