NALB TEAM: Martin Mehandjiev

От

22.07.2019

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Националност: България

Martin Marinov Mehandjiev was born on June 8, 1992 in Sofia, Bulgaria.

His parents Ruslana Ruseva (daughter of Maria Rafailova and Kiril Rafailov) and Marin Mehandjiev (son of Krassimira Mehandjieva and Marin Mehandjiev (who is the first Bulgarian nominated for the Nobel Prize in Chemistry)) and his relatives have fundamental contribution for everything in the following lines.

On 25.11.2015 he gave a public lecture while his future wife Simona Mehandjieva was in the audience. Impressed by what she heard and saw, she decided to pursue her internship at the National Amateur League of Basketball. Subsequently, the love between Simona and Martin flared up quickly and irreversibly, and since 25.08.2019 they are officially a family.

EDUCATION

He started studying in 1999 in 134 High School “Dimcho Debelyanov” in Sofia, one of the most prestigious schools in Bulgaria’s capital at the time. He graduated in 2011, having completed the technologies profile of the school, studying not only English but also Hebrew and receiving certificates for mastering both English and Hebrew. He was awarded a medal for academic success and received an honorable mention for his contributions to the development of the school’s sports, particularly basketball.

He is still a part of the school’s history as the all-time leader in all statistical categories of the basketball team (for which he received a lot of recognitions like this and this). He led the representative team of his school to a lot of prize rankings in prestigious competitions (an example can be given with his last race as part of the basketball team of 134 High School „Dimcho Debelyanov“ – ACS Open in 2011, he scored 155 points in 4 games and deserved another individual distinction). Between 2008 and 2011 he organized intramural basketball tournaments twice a year.

He continued his educational career in the Univeristy of National and World Economy, getting his bachelor’s degree (Economy and Business – Insurance and Social Care) in 2015. Two years later he earned his master’s degree in Marketing (Master of Economics) in the same university, presenting his master’s thesis “Marketing politics of the organization”, part of which was an analysis of the problems and perspectives of the marketing mix in the National Amateur League of Basketball.

In 2018 he completed a Google course in Online Marketing and was awarded a certificate. He took part in many seminars and projects and was also awarded diplomas. An example of such an event in 2019 is the project “Good governance in sport”, organized by the Bulgarian Sports Development Association as a part of the program Erasmus Plus. In the same year he also participated in a training about management of sport events. In 2020 he participated in another workshop about “Good governance in sport”.

In 2019 he received another recognition and a new opportunity to enrich his knowledge and skills – he was selected among the 20 Bulgarians who received an invitation to participate in the Sport Diplomacy Academy. The project was co-financed as a pilot project by the European Union. 80 proven sports professionals were selected as participants – 20 from each country – Bulgaria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia and Italy. The aim of the project was to provide educational mobility for the sports professionals, to improve their competences as well as their qualifications, to acquire new skills and to build a network of well-trained sports diplomats. The idea was to exchange people, ideas and good practices for the benefit of people, their organizations, sports and society as a whole. The project „Sport Diplomacy Academy“ was implemented in 4 modules. The first module was in Sofia, Bulgaria, the second one was in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, the third one was in Rijeka, Croatia and the fourth one was in Milan, Italy.

In 2020 he proved his excellent knowledge of English as he was awarded certificates from the International Business Management Institute in Berlin, Germany – firstly for general English and after that for business English. They are in accordance to the internationally approved standards developed by the European Council.

Again in 2020 he completed successfully the program „Professional Career Skills“ in the International Business Management Institute in Berlin, Germany, including 4 different courses – „Time Management“, „Communication Skills“, „Problem Solving Skills“, „Leadership and Team Development“.

In 2020 he also acquired another certificate from Google – for a successfully completed course in Digital Marketing.

FOR THE LOVE OF THE GAME!

His love of basketball started when he was 3 years old. This was when his father took him to the basketball court for the first time. After that the “game” requests became daily and never stopped. At the time he started visiting basketball games at all levels, spending his whole childhood surrounded by basketball.

In his first school years he even wrote some “literature masterpieces” (like this) that were published in different school magazines. Clearly, the topic of his work was his beloved game.

Due to a medical restriction he started practising basketball at the “late age” of 10. Until that time he practised karate and track and field, where he had many awards, including first places at track and field competitions in Sofia. Despite the good perspectives and the opinions of professionals, who outline Mehandjiev’s huge potential, he decided to completely devote himself to his real passion – basketball. For 4 years he practised on the team of “Iskar” Sofia, traveling more than 2 hours one-way. The team wasn’t aiming at the top places in the standings, but that’s where Mehandjiev started demonstrating his leadership skills. While registered on the team, he received many proposals from other clubs, including the best ones in the region. He was also recognized by legendary players, but due to his father’s professional commitment to refereeing in Bulgaria’s top basketball competitions his family decided that he shouldn’t practise in a club that has a men’s team in order to avoid conflict of interest.

He changed his club just after “Iskar” stopped its existence. His second club was “Lokomotiv” Sofia, where he played for 2 seasons, starting to realize what the Bulgarian basketball reality looks like. In eighth grade he was thinking of quitting, but decided to accept the invitation of “Septemvri” Sofia. That’s the club where he played until he turned 19 and had his highest achievements. After reaching the age limit for youth games he received invitations from other men’s teams (including some out of Bulgaria), but decided to devote himself to the mission of changing the status quo in Bulgarian basketball so that the ones after him get the opportunity to continue their careers as it should be.

At the age of 17 as a player on the team of “Septemvri” Sofia he reached fourth place at the national championship for juniors under 22. During the same year he was seventh with the junior team of “Septemvri” under 18 at “A”-group for juniors, becoming one of the players with the highest number of double-doubles in the competition. He also became the top scorer in the region of Sofia for that age level, but his team didn’t manage to qualify for the final round of the championship and finished at ninth place in Bulgaria.

Martin has earned many trophies in streetball tournaments (popular as 3×3) both in youth and in men categories, including at international level. He has won many individual awards, including MVP of some tournaments. He has also taken part in a lot of camps, including such in Serbia, and has been awarded with a lot of distinctions. He has also received many other awards (MVP of different school, university and youth tournaments). Information about a few of his achievements as a player – without those at NALB and without those from competitions organized with the assistance of NALB – can be found here. And here – photos and statistics from a small part of his career as a player outside NALB.

He started his career as an amateur player in NALB during the season 2011/2012, playing a key role on all teams he has been a part of. During the season 2013/2014 all players voted for him to get the MVP of the regular season award in the men championship of NALB (he also had the highest average efficiency – 30.24 per game). During the season 2015/2016 he became the player with the most points in the history of NALB and he did not lose his first position for many years. During the season 2016/2017 he became the first player to reach a points milestone, having scored more than 2000 points in 104 games. He won the championship of second division of NALB in Sofia in the same year and got the MVP of the playoffs award due to his highest efficiency in the team (total efficiency of 147 for 7 games, forming an average of 21.0). In the final series his average efficiency was 28.0. In the decisive third final playoff, won by Sofia Hawks with 69:67, he scored 26 points (3/6 for 2 points, 5/8 for 3 points, 5/8 from the free-throw line), 7 rebounds, 4 steals, 1 assist and 1 block to get a total efficiency of 32, thus adding to his trophies one of the last individual awards he had been missing so far.

During the season 2017/2018 he continued playing for Sofia Hawks in first division of the championship of NALB, successfully becoming one of the best and most consistent players at the highest level of NALB. He finished the season with the second highest points score in the championship and as one of the five players having scored more than 500 points in the competition as well as one of the five players with more than 20 average points per game and number one in the total number of steals. After that he was the main reason for the foundation of the men’s team of “Septemvri” basketball club, leading it to the bronze medals in its first participation in NALB – in the tournament for the cup of NALB in the end of the season 2017/2018. During the season 2018/2019 he became the first player in the history of NALB reaching the second level of any of the milestones of NALB. He continued to dominate during the season 2019/2020 as well. He became the first player in the history of NALB with 4000 scored points, the first in the history of NALB with 500 steals, reached the milestone for rebounds too – more information about his milestones can be found here. He also became the first player with triple-doubles in five straight seasons. He has been one of the All Time Leaders in NALB of almost every category for many long years.

OTHER ACTIVITIES AND SOCIAL CARE

Martin Mehandjiev has organized not only on behalf of NALB, but also on his behalf a large number of competitions, aiming at spreading the love of the game among the youth members of the community and at stimulating their personal development. One of his most famous competitions was the essay writing in 2016, asking “Why Do I Love Basketball?”, and all participants earned special awards.

As time passed, NALB became a more and more attractive topic for presentations of high school and university students, as well as for bachelors’ and masters’ theses. Mehandjiev contributed whenever asked for help about their preparation.

Known as an extremely responsible young person, Mehandjiev continuously entered different social activities (like this) that had no connection with the beloved game, thus setting an example for universal values and reaching more and more young people. He put unbelievable effort to integrate people with specific needs, people from the autism spectrum, etc, having included such even on NALB team.

He believes that everyone should never stop fighting the injustice and should always be free in their thoughts. He has made incredible efforts to motivate more and more people to share this opinion throughout his whole life (writing many articles like this as well as many others on his Facebook profile). He is convinced that the desired change is not an imaginary dimension that is only needed globally. He is sure that it is needed in every sphere and in every nuance of the overall picture. Including the beloved game.

His passion for traveling, driving (he has a driving licence for category B since 2010) and visiting different places was proven by the fact that by the age of 21 he had visited the 100 national tourist sights of Bulgaria and the top 10 peaks of the country.

Before starting NALB, Mehandjiev organized all by himself a large number of corporate tournaments.

In the period 2008-2014 he was a content creator and worked on a voluntary basis for different basketball websites, the most popular of which were Basketball-bg.com and Airball.bg. He wrote a lot of own articles (like this) and also translated a great deal of foreign content (like this, this and this) – mainly for the NBA.

During his school years he also paid serious attention to different social games such as eRepublik. The game is spread all over the world. Mehandjiev has written hundeds of articles about it and became one of the most successful Bulgarians on the platform. He even became its ambassador for Bulgaria. He is sure that the game helped him for many of the ideas about NALB later. Of course, there are a lot of examples for similar basketball games which helped him for his future ideas as well, one of them is Cyberdunk.

In 2012 he completed a course in the academy of Model Agency „Visages“. After that he paid attention to such activites for a while.

As soon as he turned 18 years old and still being a high school student, he started working for different agencies in the field of marketing research, paying a lot of attention to these activities for about 5 years.

Taking into consideration his well-developed feeling for justice, Mehandjiev has always been absolutely convinced that he must give his best for all activities that have played a key role in his personal development. That is what has happened with basketball in general, but more specifically with “Septemvri” basketball club and with different activities both of the club and of NALB. Mehandjiev has clearly supported everyone that has been next to him in their common deeds. That has also been behind NALB’s ideology – no good should remain hidden. A clear example of gratitude and a confirmation of Mehandjiev’s understanding that nobody should forget his or her own first steps and supporters was his emotional address, given when a member of NALB team decided to pursue his professional development out of Bulgaria.

He has taken each opportunity to give special attention and some of his time for preparation of kids and young people, often taking part in coaching and mentoring activities.

He has also taken each opportunity to contribute to any charity and that is why NALB takes part in so many charity activities. Mehandjiev has received a big number of personal letters of gratitude and appreciation, which can be found on NALB’s website, in the section “About us” on NALB’s website, on NALB’s Facebook page and even on the YouTube channel of NALB.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS AND RECOGNITION

In 2009, not having yet reached the age of 17, Mehandjiev became a voluntary secretary and administrator at basketball club “Septemvri”, maintaining his position for a long period after stopping to play on the club.

In 2014 he was nominated and selected as one of the finalists in the competition “University Student of the Year” organized by the National Committee of University Student Councils in Bulgaria. He reached top 3 in the category of Sports, being nominated due to his participation in the organization of the National Amateur League of Basketball.

In the beginning of 2015 he was invited for a lecture in a university. He presented in front of students studying journalism in the University of National and World Economy. Soon after that the cooperation between NALB and UNWE gave rise to the internship programs Mehandjiev and company develop with some of the most prestigious and popular universities in the country.

In the same year he was one of the authors of a sports management textbook requested and approved by the Ministry of Youth and Sports. This textbook started being used in all sports schools in Bulgaria as well as in the National Sports Academy “Vasil Levski” in the same year.

A few months later he was invited to speak at a public lecture in the NSA in order to present the practical experience and the model of marketing and management of NALB as one of the most attractive and popular sports projects in our country. He then started getting more and more invitations for meetings and discussions with students in different universities.

In April 2016 during the international conference “Balkanereco ’16” the Balkan Academy of Sciences and Culture awarded Martin Mehandjiev the degree “Doctor Honoris Causa” for his grand achievements in the field of sports management. During the ceremony he thanked for the recognition and shared that the achievement is not only his, but also of his devoted team and of all people that had somehow contributed to reaching the aims of the projects.

In the same year he received a special gratitude award from basketball club “Septemvri” for his contributions to the club.

In 2017 he was invited to become a part of the leadership team of basketball club “Septemvri”, taking the position of the CEO. Mehandjiev accepted the invitation and officially returned to the club where he reached his greatest achievements as an adolescent. The new leadership team of basketball club “Septemvri” immediately demonstrated the huge willingness to work and the large number of successful initiatives and fulfilled ideas quickly laid solid foundations to be built upon. During the season 2017/2018 a men’s team was formed by the club. The team started its history with an amazing success, winning bronze medals in the tournament for the cup of NALB. Players, parents, supporters and friends defined the organization of the club since the season 2017/2018 as outstanding, which could be proven by many facts, and Martin Mehandjiev was one of the people responsible for that. The club gradually established itself as one of the best while Mehandjiev continued enriching his management career.

By the end of the season 2017/2018 NALB team made a special gesture for its leader Martin Mehandjiev, expressing their admiration and appreciation for all he has managed to accomplish in the first 7 years of the National Amateur League of Basketball (Mehandjiev was awarded with a similar distinction by his followers even in the first years after the foundation of NALB). The management board of NALB and NALB team congratulated Mehandjiev for the proofs that when a person is intelligent, perfectionist and willing to work, they can achieve remarkable success, as well as huge thanks for the hard work in creating, building and developing NALB. And also an admission that NALB would not have become the best basketball organization without him.

At the age of 26 he was selected in the class “30 under 30” of Forbes for 2018. Forbes selected the 30 most successful Bulgarians under the age of 30 for 2018, defining them as “the people who change Bulgaria”. The world-renowned magazine, published for the first time in 1917, chooses the most deserving young people all over the world each year. Martin Mehandjiev earned his recognition in the category “Social Entrepreneurship”, and even during the presentation of the awards his immense contribution to the development of Bulgarian society was outlined. He thus received his next acknowledgement for the quality of his work, his vast effort, his devotion and the passion that he had demonstrated while doing anything connected to NALB.

In the beginning of 2019 his huge effort and his great contribution to society in the past almost 10 years were awarded one more time. Martin Mehandjiev received a special diploma in the competition for best young manager of “Eureka” foundation. This is a yearly competition in which “Eureka” foundation organizes a special ceremony to present awards to the winners in different categories – achievements in science, best managers, inventors and farmers. The awards are given to people up to the age of 35. Martin Mehandjiev was among the few who reached the final round in the competition for best young manager. During his presentation in front of the jury Mehandjiev managed to win the votes of the committee. Its members were impressed by the unbelievable effort of Mehandjiev in the previous period of about 10 years and the huge ambition thanks to which he had managed to develop NALB in such a way and in such unbearable conditions. At the awarding ceremony “Eureka” foundation stressed on the fact that they hoped Bulgaria had more young people who were as precise, ethical and ambitious as Martin Mehandjiev. A part of the main reasons for his next acknowledgement were connected to realizing a meaningful and sustainable project as well as the constant development and upgrade of the project.

In 2019 he was also recognized in the initiative “40 up to 40” of Darik Radio. A special committee of the radio yearly selects the 40 most gifted people up to the age of 40, who work hard and demonstrate intelligence, good ideas and brave heart, contributing to the development of Bulgaria and our society. The goal is to present the achievements of all those people that successfully make a better atmosphere in our country. The efforts of Martin Mehandjiev were recognized again, and it should be mentioned that “Darik” Radio shared that he was the one that had received the highest number of nominations in the preliminary round. The special jury that looked over the nominations shared that Martin Mehandjiev was a very interesting and devoted person. Thus the qualities, devotion, work and social contribution of Mehandjiev were acknowledged again.

In May 2019 Martin Mehandjiev presented his first lecture in English. He was invited for a lecture in one of the most prestigious international schools in Italy. The school regularly invites people that motivate students to aim at making the world a better place. The activity is called “Ignition Lab: Inspiration, Imagination, Impact” and the school invites speakers who can influence the students. Mehandjiev shared with the audience that one has two choices when something is perceived as wrong – to do nothing or to do something to change it. Mehandjiev focused on two aspects that are usually underestimated – that everything must be strictly planned and that details are of crucial importance. He finished his lecture with motivating words, trying to make once again all students think if and how they are ready to be the change they want to see in the world: “The fact that nobody before you has done it doesn’t mean that you can’t do it”!

In 2019 Martin Mehandjiev was placed among “The Outstanding Young Persons of Bulgaria” (TOYP Bulgaria) – an initiative of “Junior Chamber International Bulgaria” (JCI Bulgaria). This is the national branch of the international NGO Junior Chamber International, uniting young, ambitious and proactive people from all over the world. The organization develops projects connected with business, social and cultural activities, training and international mindedness. The organization was founded in 1919 in Missouri, USA and as of 2019 had branches in more than 100 countries and had more than 200 000 members. “The Outstanding Young Persons” is a program that serves to formally recognize young people that are among the best in 10 areas of social life and serve as an example of best qualities to young people around the world. The winners, aged 18 to 40, have either managed to have great accomplishments or have showed the potential to do so. The common theme among all awarded at both national and international level is their service to humanity and their contribution to creating a positive change in society. The initiative aims at acknowledging young people who outstand with their qualities in their own spheres of interest and development. In Bulgaria the project started in 2015, trying to give national recognition to the achievements of young Bulgarians, to help in popularizing good examples and to serve as a reason for young Bulgarians to aim their energy at creating a positive change in society. Among more than 70 nominees Martin Mehandjiev was one of the two young Bulgarians recognized in the field “Personal Development and/or Achievement”. The jury was seriously impressed by the activities of Mehandjiev and the positive change that they had brought to society. After the selection of the jury everyone who wanted to vote on social media had the opportunity to do so. Mehandjiev won almost 500 votes, thus standing fourth among all selected by the jury in all categories, as well as first in the category “Personal Development and/or Achievement”. A very big part of NALB participants gave their vote to support NALB in receiving another recognition.

In the beginning of 2020 NALB received an official letter from the Bulgarian Basketball Federation. In the letter NALB was recognized receiving congratulations and praise for the many years of tireless work in the name of basketball in Bulgaria and also a collaboration proposal, including an invitation for Mehandjiev to become part of the management board of the Bulgarian Basketball Federation. Anyway, the official answer from NALB, signed by the Chairman of the organization Martin Mehandjiev, showed very clear that for him the values, ideals, morals, principles, understandings and beliefs are far more significant than any potential benefits he would have. Adhering to clear rules and full transparency, he wants everything to be very clear, black and white and to avoid any possible speculations – that is why absolutely everything becomes accessible to anyone interested in this case too.

PASS THE LOVE OF THE GAME FORWARD!

In 2009 Martin Mehandjiev took a course for a basketball referee in the Bulgarian Basketball Federation followed by officiating many games for youth players and students, among which a large number of final matches. He stopped taking part in such activities about a year later, as he refused to participate in something that he defined as drastically unjust, incorrect, malfunctioning and wrong.

His idea of the National Amateur League of Basketball appeared in 2011, when he was still at high school. Despite the fact that the idea was completely positive, it came up because of the “unjust, incorrect, malfunctioning and wrong”. That was when the real fight of Martin Mehandjiev with the so called “system” began so that he could prove to himself and to society that with clean thoughts and ideas behind a just cause anything can actually happen in the right way. He takes the cause “NALB” as a mission and manages to spread it out to many followers. Even though he had been thought of as a naive young person and a daydreamer, Mehandjiev was completely certain that NALB had its future. His stunning dedication in every aspect is proverbial. The number of basketball games he has been an official and the number of the matches in general he has attended over the years probably represent unachievable records.

Mehandjiev is the person who must get the biggest credit for the creation, functioning, development and successes of NALB (including all of the superlatives about NALB in different interviews, as well as from friends of NALB). He is often asked how it is possible to work 24/7 for so many years “for the cause”. Brought up with basketball, Martin Mehandjiev simply wants to leave his positive mark in Bulgarian basketball. He wants the “system” to be beaten – the same system that has killed and keeps on killing many talents and dreams. He hopes that the positive example that NALB sets can help other spheres in Bulgaria and that’s one of his main reasons to focus on development in his own country despite all obstacles. Professionalism, honesty, justice, love of the game – a part of the obligations of NALB that Mehandjiev has set as the Chairman of NALB ever since its foundation.

“I would like to focus on two important concepts. First, the potential of Bulgarian basketball is huge and I hope that NALB proves and will continue to prove this. The second one is connected with dreams. It’s vital for everyone to have dreams to fight for. We, the skillful and open-minded people must work in the same direction. Only then things can improve, no matter what sphere of life we are discussing. If we dislike something but don’t lift our fingers, we simply turn into the next apathetic fellows. I bow down to all people who have contributed to the development of NALB over the years!”

Some of the interviews of Martin Mehandjiev about NALB on different media channels:

Last update: 26.06.2020

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