The head coach of the Chilean men’s basketball teams, the Argentine Cristian Santander, will carry out a “visitation” this Saturday to the Biobío regional teams, who are preparing to face face-to-face competitions in the last quarter of the year.
The activity will take place in the gymnasium of the German Sports Club, where Santander will witness in person the work of the regional team led by the coach and member of the staff of national teams, Jaime Urrutia.
“Our goal is to train generations instead of categories, that is, the most outstanding players year by year, starting with the 2003 generation until the 2008 generation during this year 2021 and next 2022. In addition, we want to form different development poles or centers of training sessions throughout all of Chile and, strategically, it seems relevant to us to be able to have one of them in the Biobío region, ”Santander said through a document sent to the sports institution.
In the Region there are several exponents that are under follow-up and are in a position to qualify for the selection process. Among them are Gabriel Barra (2.02 meters tall) and Lucas Retamal (1.99 meters), both aged 14 and among the tallest players at the national level. They are joined by Sixto Urrutia and Lucas Aguirre, who have been arriving from Spain, where they participated in an academy.
“The idea is to have close contact with the head coach so that he can soak up the regional reality. Already last year, Cristián and Daniel Frola gave advanced courses to professionals in the region through the IND, and the opportunity to maintain that bond should not be lost ”, commented technician Jaime Urrutia.
For his part, the Sports Minister, Marco Loyola, highlighted Santander’s presence in the area. “We have very good basketball players. Let us remember that before the pandemic, the Biobío team achieved second place two years in a row in the Binational Games of La Araucanía and the San Ignacio School was national champion of the School Sports Games.
The visit of Cristián Santander and the national technical team will take place this Saturday, from 11:00 am, at the German Sports Club in San Pedro de la Paz.