How does Justė Jocytė spend her day at the national team camp?

Justė Veronika Jocytė is a Lithuanian basketball phenomenon who has turned 15 years old only three weeks ago. Although Justė is only fifteen and in the basketball world she is often called the „baby faced” player, she has achieved quite a lot: being just 13 years old, Justė won the second place in the European Youth (U16) basketball championship with the Lithuanian national team, also became the top scorer in the European youth (U16) basketball championship, in addition she made her debut in the Lithuanian women’s basketball league (Klaipėda „Neptūnas”) and in the Lithuanian women’s national basketball team (European championship qualifiers match againts Albania), at the age of just 14 years old Justė became the youngest debutant ever in French women’s basketball league.

Recently, the Lithuanian women’s national team played the qualifiers game for the 2021 European Women’s Basketball Championship, where they competed against the Serbian national team and, unfortunately, after a fierce combat Lithuanians had to acknowledge the advantage of their opponents (71:82).

Justė Jocytė shared a day with the house of basketball to show what her day looks like representing the Lithuanian women’s national basketball team.

Justė starts her day like most other athletes. She starts with a good breakfast that gives her the strength to start a new day. After breakfast, Justė travels with the team to the first workout of the day, which starts with a good warm-up. During the practise, they analyse the plays of their opponent’s, recall their own plays, both for defence and offence. After practise, team returns to the hotel for lunch and rest.

„In my case, I have still got studying to do. Even though it is a week off from school for me, it is important to keep up with all the study material”, – says Justė Jocytė

„Once that is done I try to take a nap, whether it is 30 minutes or an hour, because it helps to recover and be more energetic during the second practise”.

Before the second practise they have a small ‘snack’. During the evening practise, they usually play 5 on 5, repeating their plays. After the practise, the Lithuanian women’s national basketball team returns to the hotel where they have dinner. After the meal, they do video analysis of their upcoming opponent, where they study opponent’s plays, discuss defense strategy. Once video analysis is over, every player finishes her day with different routine:

„After the video analysis, recovery procedures are being done. When it comes to recovery, I have my own routine. I work on general injury prevention, various massages and with all these treatments I finish my day. I just relax and get ready for the next day”, – evaluated Justė.

The Lithuanian women’s basketball team will meet the Turkish (February 4) and Serbian (February 6) national teams in the European Basketball Championship qualifiers. Both matches will take place at 5 pm and will be broadcasted on TV6.

LITHUANIAN WOMEN’S NATIONAL TEAM ROSTER: