The 15-year-old is vying for a roster spot on Slovenia’s youth national team for the U16 European Championships this summer.
After going through two tryouts with the Slovenian squad, Podpecan is awaiting a third to take place this month.
“[The workouts] were very, very hard because I was the shortest of all of them,” said Podpecan, who plays shooting guard. “There were kids there who were 2.5m tall and 190 (pounds).”
Podpecan may be on the low end of the spectrum with his 1.76m height, but there’s still room for growth as he shot up seven centimetres since moving from Dubai back to Slovenia in February.
“The coach saw I was working and if this year I don’t get it, he’ll see how much I grow and how much stronger I get, then they’ll put me in,” Podpecan said of his national team chances.
Height hasn’t been the only area where Podpecan has grown.
After initially playing football and athletics, he transitioned to basketball at the age of six. When he moved to Dubai at 10, he continued playing the sport in school.
“In Slovenia, everyone knows how to play so I got easily into it,” Podpecan said.
“When I moved to Dubai, most of the people didn’t know how to play so it was hard for me to get along with them because they barely knew how to dribble.”