Playing with the orange

Claudio “Cococho” Arosa had the initiative to write a didactic book on basketball, he published it a few months ago. About the material and how he was able to carry out his very good idea, he spoke with Básquet Total.

How did this idea of ​​writing a book come about?

The idea came about a long time ago. Although I am a physical education teacher and basketball coach I have been teaching for a few years. Around the year 2000, Alejandro Gava, who is my mentor and with whom I work to this day and I learn permanently, took me to the institute to give a talk in the coaches course. From there, I got the idea of ​​making a games manual, because I saw that they were very demanding of what had to do with play, games and what to do with the little ones. Because sometimes you have the older coach in your mind, but when you have to work with the little ones, you don’t have much idea, you don’t know where to start. So, in that year (2000/2001) I put together a very homemade game manual, but with an idea of ​​putting it into a book format, and with the 10 years of ENEFUBB, which was two or three years ago, I made a kind of summary of what we had lived in the 10 years. So I said, because I don’t add a theoretical content, which is what I also give to the coaches in terms of the talks. The different ways of facing the chiquilines, different ages, the motivation, how to propose the games, and that’s when I started writing. With all this issue of the pandemic, I was assembling and ordering in my head the different ideas that seemed to me to be good.

What is the book about?

It is a game manual. It’s called: Manual of games and something else. Because it has a playful proposal with many games that has to do with the initiation in basketball, and then it has a theoretical introduction part with some parts that I consider are important to work with the youngest in the sports initiation stage, mainly in basketball. Although they have made me see in this time, that it has material that is used not only for basketball in particular, but for sports initiation in general.

Is the book only to guide the little ones or does it have an age limit?

As you go through this journey of the book with the return of people, you realize that you guided it to the smallest, but later you realize that they can also be used for the older ones. There are games that are in the book that a teacher can perfectly use for a warm-up, for a training with more playful parts. Although it is aimed at children, and from where I think they can get more out of the book, it also has something that we can apply to work with older children.

Did you have any support?

It was always clear to me that it was a personal undertaking, especially to be in control of the work and not rush with the times or anything. And also because I wanted to put in the book the things that I think are good and are consistent with the work. I took care of the whole book, of course I took care of the economic cost that it implied, what I did have was friend help. For example, Santiago Canto helped me with the cover of the book, and I think he was the person who gave me the final boost to be able to release it. Ignacio Cambón, who is a psychologist friend, who works with me at school and also plays in the university league, and we were in the selection process together, gave me a hand in counseling on the psychological side to address the issue. From Mario Rojas, who gave me the photo for the cover, my daughters and my wife helped me correct the book. A teacher, Gianela Maya, who also helped me correct it. It was a homemade and very personal thing. It was also very familiar, because they were the ones who ate the first part of the process, then what I did was give it to some of the kids who worked with me, before publishing it to see what they thought, if it was clear what it transmitted and others . There I got the budget, we fired a cartridge and threw the book out on the street.

What is your goal with the book?

It honestly implies an economic expense, which you have to try to pay for with the sale. I tried to find the best way, that the cost is as low as possible so that the sale value is also the most accessible for those who want it. But, the first great objective is personal satisfaction, to be able to express myself in another way, since I am used to giving talks, but in this format through a book I had never done it. Basketball gave me many things, I discovered with basketball since I played, that my life was going to be won by me as a physical education teacher and through physical education I realized that I loved teaching. The idea with this book is to honestly give back to basketball a little what it gave me, and help those who have just started to give them a small grain of sand, and tools so that more and more children can join the world of basketball, that’s my big goal.

How can the book be ordered?

I connect with people through my social networks. My email is cocoarosa@hotmail.com, on Facebook I am as Claudio Cococho Arosa and Instagram as @ArosaClaudio through that I got to different parts of the interior. He also goes through a book fair that is in different parts of the republic, but the best way, I think is through my social networks and through there we communicate. And if people have any questions or queries, it is because I use those means of communication.