Continuing with the round of notes to the LUB coaches, it is time to go to Plaza de las Misiones where Básquet Total spoke with Guillermo Narvarte who will be the Goes coach again.
What evaluation did you make of last season?
In our case it is very difficult because the COVID issue totally conditioned us. The only game that we were complete was in the second game and then the last games, so of the regular series it was in very few games where we all were, added to the fact that on several occasions the players on the court were not 100% because the recoveries take your process. For this reason, the last championship we could not face with our full potential. I think that at the end of the tournament we showed a game identity, but without a doubt that last season we took it as an experience more than any type of evaluation that can be made about the result.
How has Goes preparation been thinking about the start of the tournament?
Ok, normal. Although we have logical problems, it is something common in all teams. We have not yet been able to work with the entire squad due to different circumstances. Some affected El Metro, others who arrived injured as is the case of Mauricio Arregui who is not yet doing activity because he is focused on the physiotherapy and bodybuilding part, which is why he began with support work only on Monday and without a doubt that it is a important issue because it is one of our largest chips. On the other hand, we need the last foreigner to arrive (Jonathan Ocasio) and in turn we have Fernando Martinez who has been recovering from the surgery he had a few weeks ago. Due to these factors, we have been working every day, with difficulties, but we do not take them as excuses, but as part of the preparation as other teams will have their drawbacks. It is very difficult for the preseason to be ideal, sometimes you can achieve it, but in this case we have had to overcome some vicissitudes and now towards the end we are trying to accommodate ourselves for the start of the tournament.
There are several players who repeat with respect to the previous tournament and some who join, are you satisfied with the assembly of the squad?
Yes, and it is also within the possibilities that the club has. Sometimes there is one thing that is the expectation and another the possibilities. This is not for those who want to, but for those who can, whether in participation or in team building. So, within that power there is an issue of the market, of hiring possibilities, of marketing in the sense of what type of negotiations are carried out and what economic possibilities the team has. If we take stock of all these things, we are within what we have talked about, trying to improve the team a little compared to the previous season. We were able to repeat Franco Giorgetti, he is good because he already worked with us, added to the column of Fernando Martinez and the Osimani brothers who continue in the club together with some Under 23s and others who joined for this tournament. For all this, I am satisfied with the team and we hope to be competitive.
This year some Sub 23s like Nahuel Lemos and Ignacio Xavier join, do you think Goes will be able to have a more extensive squad compared to the previous tournament?
It is relative. Although some boys joined, we are leaving a free senior card and the arrival of Mauricio Arregui, although we hired him as a senior member, last year he practically did not play so he is also in that group of young people who join the club.
How has the evaluation of the friendlies been?
We started very early to play friendlies because the reality that we did not reach five players in practice, so those games helped us to take a rhythm more in line with the competition. When you play a lot of friendlies or start training early, you prioritize the rhythm of the game a little over the volume of the team, that is, there is not so much focus on the load of information or tactical systems. Taking into account our reality, we prioritized the game because it was useless to carry things when the full team was not there, so each friendly had its assessment and evaluation because we were adding work and correcting. Last Saturday we had a game that was suspended, but we are trying to get there in the best possible way.
What can you say about foreigners?
In the case of Nestor Colmenares, he has been training with us for almost a month. He is a player that I will not discover, beyond what he did, he returns to Uruguay with another type of tour, playing in several countries, he has had very important experiences with his national team, which is why he is a vital player in the inner game . On the other hand, Ocasio, who has just had a good season in Puerto Rico. He is a forward and we are going to see how he adapts to the team because many times we can observe a player who is contributing in other competitions and you can visualize some things, but until we have him with us we cannot see the degree of adaptability he has to the team and the League. That adaptation costs some more, others less, not only he to the team but the team to him. We are clear that like every new foreigner who joins a team, there is a question mark that will have its time of work and evaluation. We know we need a forward to close the squad so let’s hope Ocasio is what we’re looking for.
A few days ago the fixture draw was held, what opinion do you deserve?
I’m not much about analyzing the fixtures, this tournament has the peculiarity of the return of home and away games. Regarding the calendar, when you started well you had a good fixture and when you started badly it was complicated (laughs), so we just have to focus on getting to October 25 well and start shooting. What I do observe is that the tournament will be competitive, that there will be parity at the beginning, in this tournament we are going to have a change, I do not know if to call it that, but it is played again with the localities and that you want or not conditions in some cases favorably and in others unfavorably. What I mean is that they are trying to return to normality and in that aspect we must see how it affects the teams. We are going to go back to playing as it was always played and I think we are all happy to start enjoying again what we could not have for a year and a half. We cannot forget everything that we have been through, first we could not play, then we could not play sports in closed spaces, later the tournaments began, but with many restrictions and luckily now we are returning to what was natural for us.
What evaluation do you make of Goes not only on a sports level but also on a social and infrastructure level?
As we spoke at the beginning, the beginning of my stage in Goes was all very new, so I only knew the main thing that is the popular club and the passion that its fans have behind the team. When we arrived at a special moment, we could not live with that on a day-to-day basis because we did not play with the public, so that passion was only transmitted through social networks. In any case, it is undoubtedly a very popular club and basketball is the institution’s main activity beyond the fact that the leadership is clear that its objectives are not purely sporting, but that the idea is to continue growing, professionalizing some areas and going improving the structure and organization. Since we have arrived at the club, I think we have been improving various aspects of the infrastructure that surrounds the entire team. Over there, the most common thing is that they talked about which foreigner comes from, or which are the largest chips, which is something that is seen with the naked eye. However, indoors we are growing in everything that is the structure of the team and that is worth a lot because it allows us to prioritize things in the long term with other types of bases either with improvements on the court and changing rooms, having more complete the medical corps, health areas, work machinery, so it is important to continue along this path to get closer to an ideal structure.
After some time in our country, what is your opinion on the level of basketball in Uruguay?
The subject when you evaluate, you have to think based on what you are doing. With this premise, we must bear in mind that the last league was special with certain emergencies because of everything that was experienced. The important thing was that in Uruguay there was basketball and it was possible to continue with the competitions, which in other parts of the world did not happen. Undoubtedly, this factor is very good, but we are clear that the level that will be observed in this LUB that begins will be of a higher level; be called by campuses, by level of foreigners and by having a much longer season, longer. As we spoke at the beginning, with the conditions that the previous tournament suffered with infections, although we were the first, but then all the teams suffered to a greater or lesser extent, but ultimately there were many factors that conditioned the level of competition. A higher level league is coming and I think it’s very good that all the teams are betting on that.