Selem Safar, the Argentine basketball figure who left due to the pandemic and found a new life in Colombia

The Rio 2016 Olympic Games scored two historic farewells in the Argentine National Team basketball. The one in which an epic victory was achieved against Brazil It was the last tournament of none other than Manu Ginobili and of Andres Chapu Nocioni, two of the members of the “Santísima Trinidad” of the orange ball in Albicelestes lands (the other, of course, Luis Scola).

To get to that moment, of course, it was necessary to go through many others. None, perhaps, so decisive like the one that was experienced in the early hours of September 12, 2015.

Argentina lost by seven points with Mexico in the semifinal of the Pre-Olympic held in the Federal District and he ran out of the ticket to the appointment in Brazil. It was then that Selem safar, excellent marksman and by then multiple champion with Peñarol of Mar del Plata, disguised himself as Stephen Curry to hit a triple and receive a foul, convert the free kick and leave the team Sergio Hernandez to three points.

That was the beginning of the comeback that would result in a 78-70 triumph and a ticket to the Games at that FIBA ​​Americas. Today Safar is living his first experience in international basketball and since Colombia tells to Clarion what was it like to leave because of the pandemic And stay for … Well, he better explain.

“I started because it was the first league that opened its doors during the pandemic and it allowed me to be in competition very quickly,” recalls the guard. It was only going to last two months Well, I found a good team, an excellent leadership, compliant and who seeks to continue growing, who made an effort to be able to compete and a basketball that I liked “.

So much so that he renewed for all this year with Titans of Barranquilla, the team that hired him and with which he was champion of the Colombian league both last year (being the MVP of the finals) like just a few days ago. “Being here allows me to be working, happy, enjoying myself. I’m very well,” he says.

-Is it another life, in addition to another basketball, or is it more or less similar to Argentina?

-I’m calmer, it’s another life. In Argentina we are spoiled; when you go out you realize that there are things that would be great if they changed. Here I have an economic stability that does not make me think all the time if something goes up or down … I don’t have to worry about more than doing my job The best way possible.

Selem Safar with the second trophy he obtained in Colombia, where he won two consecutive leagues with Titanes de Barranquilla. Instagram photo

Selem Safar with the second trophy he obtained in Colombia, where he won two consecutive leagues with Titanes de Barranquilla. Instagram photo

-What is missing on or off the court?

-I’m not missing a lot, you know? Because coming to play here benefited me a lot in my life. Look: in the National League, there I had to go 10 months to play in another city and it was very difficult for me to return to either Mar del Plata, which is my city; or One-Eyed Deer, where my daughter lives; or to Buenos Aires, where I have friends. I didn’t have time to divide myself into all the places I wanted to be. And playing in Colombia, where I arrived in September, I was able to spend all December in Mar del Plata; in February I went back again, and one more in April. It allowed me much more to enjoy my free time. I was able to see my daughter much longer than I could before, when I was closer. Then that happened to me, It’s not that I miss more but I even miss less.

-Sounds ideal from that place. Are you staying much longer or is the return to the League planned?

-I don’t close any doors. In terms of sport, the league has lowered the level a lot, because of the exodus, because of the pandemic, because of many things. And economically it is very difficult to play in Argentina and that it serves you. But the door is not closed, it is the League that I always played and to which I would like to return.

Some time ago, Nicolas Laprovittola shaped it together with the journalist and writer German Beder to a podcast in which he tells his own experiences and interviews personalities both from the sports environment and from outside circles.

In an interview with this medium, the base of Real Madrid He recounted the reasons for embarking on that adventure and said: “I would like the athlete to give his opinion without being told to shut up”. In this sense, Safar regularly uses social networks and it is common to read him giving his opinion on the Argentine social reality.

A few years ago, when he played for San Lorenzo, Safar studied sports journalism. Photo Rubén Digilio

A few years ago, when he played for San Lorenzo, Safar studied sports journalism. Photo Rubén Digilio

“I do not think that I am a person who can speak of these things as an expert, but as someone who has a job like any other. I have seen the country badly for a long time, I do not think I am walking the right path and not only ; I think about it and I see it“, he emphasizes.

And he continues: “It is not now, due to the pandemic; it has been falling for a long time due to social and economic issues. Sometimes I see things that seem normal and are not. But it is a bit like that, as Nico said: out there anyone who thinks About something that is not what she does or what she does, they tell her to shut up or tell her to do her own thing. In recent times I gave my opinion more than usual and I imagine that I will continue to do so“.

Figure inside, source of consultation outside

-You were always important in the teams where you were, but in Titanes you are the most relevant and perhaps the most outstanding in the League. How does that feel?

-I’m not used to it. I know that I am important, that my teammates depend on my good night, my good season. but the team has several very important players. I was adapting in my career to what each team needed from me. When I was in San Lorenzo or Peñarol, where he had to have a specific role such as leaving the screens and being a shooter, in which other players generated much more with the ball in hand; in Boca, Comunicaciones or Obras, where I had to have it more, I also adapted. Now where I am, my offensive participation is needed and I like it.

-Do you have young companions, does the club have training?

-No, in that sense Colombia has a long way to go. The team has no training. Young people are not so young for us, because they are boys between 22 and 24 years old who in Argentina would no longer be young. And we have players over 30 years old, all with a lot of international experience. If Colombian basketball wants to continue growing, it has to review that, because he needs to get much younger players, 14, 15 years old at least.

-And these guys, or the rivals, or even the leaders, do they ask you questions about the Argentine League or the Argentine players or about your experiences?

-Yes Yes. The leaders are young, very serious and do things well well, but obviously they do not have a great international experience nor have they been in basketball for a long time. They asked me about the National League, about the training sessions, about the training of young people. They are people who ask a lot trying to keep learning.

The friends NBA

-How did you see Facundo Campazzo Y Gabriel Deck in your first steps in the NBA?

-I see Facundo very well. It’s the same as always of which we say “this is going to cost him” and it doesn’t cost him. It’s amazing, it fits so easily, it has a tremendous power of improvement. I see him fulfilling his role, defensively many thought it was going to cost him and I would tell you that he is one of the best in the league. And I see all the conditions for Gabriel, he is in a team where he will be able to show himself. By offensive and physical characteristics the adaptation it should cost you even less that to Facundo, it happens that Facu it is half extraterrestrial.