BELGRADE (Serbia) - When the lights come on for the tip-off of the first BCL Semi-Final on Friday, April 26 in Belgrade, the focus for each of the four teams will zero in on the chase for glory. 

For each team, however, an event like this also presents the challenge of maintaining as much normalcy as possible whilst navigating so many unique and special circumstances. 

Competing in a Final Four involves a big change to the teams' travel schedule followed by practices tailored to the upcoming Semi-Final and dramatically increased media responsibilities.

With this, comes the obvious physical load on the players and the - often overlooked - emotional and psychological stamina required to perform at an event that may be the pinnacle in a short career for some of these players and coaches.

To add some context, these teams played their last domestic games, before heading to Belgrade, between 19 and 21 April.

They arrive in Serbia on 24 April and as soon as their flight is wheels down, they are almost instantly in front of the cameras at the official photoshoot, where they need to mentally switch straight into tournament mode.

The photoshoot also presents their first chance to get acquainted with the ASB GlassFloor that has been installed for the first time at a Final Four of any club competition in the world.

That may sound minor but, for a professional player, familiarity with the ball and the floor is crucial to your ability to perform at the highest level. Details matter.

The initial feedback from the players on Wednesday evening here in Belgrade was that the floor is perfect for basketball and, if anything, maybe a better surface than those they usually play on every week.

Nonetheless, adaptation is an accumulative process and not  a case by case process. Little things add up.

The following day ,teams will be up early at 9 am for practice and the players will get a real chance to test run the floor as gameday-minus one represents the last opportunity for full-contact training.

These practices will most likely involve teams split into a starting five, and an opposition five who will be running the sets and actions or defensive schemes they expect to face from their Semi-Final opponents.

And here lies another layer of schedule challenge. Somewhere between arriving in Belgrade, the photoshoot, dinner at night, and the following day's practices, the coaching staff need to prepare video scouts and deliver them to players in a format they can learn in time for practice and, most importantly, the Friday game.

As you can imagine, sleep becomes a secondary priority for the coaching staff in this case. 

In the case of this specific Final Four, the load on the coaching staff may be slightly reduced by the fact that all of these teams have already faced each other this season. Either in the Spanish Liga Endesa, for UCAM Murcia and Unicaja, or in the Round of 16 of the BCL in the case of Lenovo Tenerife and Peristeri bwin.

That's not to say that they don't need to re-scout opponents,  because teams and players evolve between games. As a coach, in these situations you also have to consider how much stock to put in what you saw in your opponent's final domestic game before the tournament.

For example, coaches have been known to rest key players to give the impression they may be injured, in an attempt to sow the seeds of doubt.

If the game tips off and you can catch your opponent with even the slightest element of surprise in who or how you are playing, you have a psychological victory before the first quarter is over. These things can be enough to swing the confidence of an entire team.

The photoshoot isn't the final demand when it comes to the media work at showpiece events like this either.

Each team captain and head coach needs to face the international media at a press conference before the event. Words are powerful in the limited opportunity the media get to speak to them and one thing that you can expect from every coach on that occasion is to maintain a healthy level of respect, to avoid handing even the slightest extra motivation to their upcoming opponent. 

From the outside, many assume that all these teams need to do is turn up and play, but in truth very few people have what it takes to stay focused in an environment like this.

Yet not only do these teams have that ability, they live for it. When you have been focused on this sport every day of your life, there is nothing that can compete with the chance to show the basketball world that you were built for this when the lights come on. 

When we hear coaches talking about the value they place on players being Great Pros, it is the ability and discipline to get it done on this type of a stage.

It's what sets the good ones apart from the great ones. 

For a more detailed look at the teams' media obligations  during the Final Four, you can download the official Media Guide here.