BELGRADE (U20 European Championship) - Joao Soares knows better than most why a youngster should always play at a 100% in practice and in games.

One never knows who’s watching.

Thankfully for Soares, the 6ft 6in forward showed enough talent and effort at the U18 European Championship Division B tournament last year in Hungary to catch the eye of Partizan Belgrade.

One of the most famous clubs on the continent saw enough promise in Soares, who averaged 12 points at the event, to invite him to Belgrade where he played this year for the Partizan youth team.

The former Ovarense player couldn't believe his good fortune.

"It was the best news I could have had last summer," Soares said to FIBA.com.

"Partizan are a team with a great history that has great players performing in the Euroleague, achieving significant results and they also have one of the best coaches (Dusko Vujosevic) in the Europe. This was a tempting offer.

"Partizan are a team with a philosophy focused on developing youth players and giving them minutes to play, which is a dream of any young player.

"This is experience will remain remarkable for the rest of my life."

Soares will this summer be a part of Portugal’s squad at the U20 European Championship Division B in Sarajevo.

In the not too distant future, he will be contending for a spot in the senior squad.

This summer, Moncho Lopez’s Portugal will attempt to earn a place at EuroBasket 2009 via the Additional Qualifying Round.

They will go up against Bosnia and Herzegovina and Belgium in Group A and if the Portuguese finish top of that pool, they will try to beat the winner of Group B (France, Italy or Finland) in a home-and-away tie.

"If Portugal play their best game and are able to stop their opponents' main players, Portugal might qualify for the Euro 2009," Soares said.

"It will be a very difficult assignment, but anything is possible, and some luck will also be necessary to win those games."

For now, Soares just wants to improve as a player and take advantage of an opportunity to play in Serbia, one of the hotbeds of basketball in Europe.

"My personal aims are to develop as much as I can and improve within the Serbian Basketball," Soares said.

"I want to keep working hard on a daily basis in order to gain some minutes and to perform in Euroleague."

Julio Chitunda
FIBA