BY: ALEJANDRO PÉREZ / PHOTOS: GASPAR NOBREGA

BAURU (DIRECTV Liga de las Americas) - No one was surprised when Baurú won the Brazil National Club Championship in 2002. The city of São Paulo lives basketball with intensity and its team featured several outstanding names of the time, like Josuel, Vandrelei, Raul (Utah player Raulzinho Neto’s father) and Brasília. They also counted on young players that had a great projection, like Leandrinho Barbosa, Marquinhos and Murilo Becker. What was curious about this team was that three years later it had to be dissolved due to economic problems.

Toward the end of 2007, a group of young directives decided to establish a sports association named Baurú Basketball Teal. “Although we were all young and had no experience as directives, we had all been related in one way to another to basketball. We felt that Baurú, because of its history, should have a professional team in the national tournament. Which is why in August of 2009 we were one of the eight founders of the current Brazil National League,” says directive member Vítor Bornia Jacob, better known as Vitinho.

Rafael Hettsheimeir has been one of the key players of Bauru's recent success.

Although the first national title didn’t come immediately, in 2012 the team made their first international appearance in Liga de las Américas. But the good results started to roll in sooner than was expected, since in 2014 they conquered Liga Sudamericana and a few months later, Liga de las Américas.

Vitinho remembers that “that continental title was transcendental for Baurú. It allowed them to be known outside Brazil, since we faced Real Madrid in the International Cup and we could play to matches against the NBA teams from New York and Washington.”

After losing two finals in a row against Flamengo de Río de Janeiro in 2015 and 2016, they won their first National League title last year.

“We grew year after year since we began, and results were almost always on our side. A very strong relationship was established with the people from the city and all across the region. We built a respectable name in the sport and that was important when we went through serious economic crises,” the São Paulo directive explains.

Alex Garcia, who missed Group D action, is the captain of the Bauru side.

There were several problems and, paradoxically, they came after good results. In 2013, after reaching the LNB finals, they were almost going to stop participating. In 2015, while they were champions of the Americas, they lost their mains sponsor —Paschoalotto— and this placed them in a difficult situation. A few months ago, after their national title, they lost Gocil as sponsors and this once again created doubt as to their continuity.

Vitinho, Baurú representative in the NBB, who leads the professional league, pointed out: “It's strange, but after achieving titles, our sponsors left. Luckily, those good results and our credibility as directives allowed us to reach agreements with other businesses. Baurú always worked with contributions of private businesses, we've never had State support. Businesses —like our current main sponsor, Sendi— like that we're a team with visibility, because we're on TV, we’re in the media, and we have a lot of presence in social media.”

The Panela de Pressão serves as the home court of Bauru.

At the same time, Baurú develops a deep work with formative categories and in the last decade contributed many young players to the minor Brazil national teams. The city, of a little over more than 400 thousand inhabitants, allows them to have U-14, U-15, U-16 and U-17 categories with local players. Their recruitments tend to be larger young players with possibilities of being a part of the National League squad. Currently, several of the members of the professional team come from their formative categories.

However, for four years the man that has been most representative of Baurú is Alex García. The player was clear about why he joined the Paulista team: “I was drawn by their approach, by the public's permanent support in the games, by the passion both their followers and directives feel for basketball. And, above all, because they are ambitious. They're always preparing to fight for the title. They play to be champions. That's why I want to stay in this team.”

FIBA