BY: PABLO CORMICK

TALCA (DIRECTV Liga de las Americas) - "I was playing in Mogi das Cruzes and was 20-years old, and I also played in the Brazil National Team. I went to the beach in carnaval and fell asleep while driving. I crashed into another car and broke my femur and jaw. I had to undergo treatment for a year. I was in a wheelchair and suffered a lot. I had played basketball since I was six and it was very hard on me." Calm, but still emotional 18 years later, Danilo Padovani talks about what was the end of his career as a player.

"The accident was devastating for me. I was in Spain and I couldn't believe it. One of the first things I did when I returned to Brazil was to go and visit him," says Guilherme Giovannoni who, more than a team mate, is practically Danilo’s brother.

"I was very tired after the week's trainings, I had drank a bit and was going to another beach further down," Danilo admits. The first image he remembers after falling asleep behind the wheel is in the hospital, after being operated.

The truth is that this accident cut short the career of a player that had a promising future. "He was a strong-willed point guard with a great throw. He also was a wall in the defense," Giovannoni details. "I dreamed of going to Europe and playing with Brazil’s National Team. It was a rebuilding stage and I was among a group of youngsters that would rebuild the team,says Danilo, who remembers his performance in the U-16 South American Championship in Arequipa, Peru in 1995, where he faced an Argentine team that featured names such as Luis Scola and Andrés Nocioni.

"Realizing that I couldn't play anymore was a very hard moment. After being six months in a wheelchair and in rehabilitation therapy, I wanted to go back to play. When the doctor said my career was over, I started to cry. For me, it was a shock," says a nostalgic Padovani.

However, this wheelchair stage was the one that —in one way or another— brought him back to basketball. "One night while I was at home, some friends invited me over for a party. And I agreed to go even in that condition. That's where I met my wife, Karen. We fell in love in 2002 and since that day we're together. If it weren't for that accident, I wouldn't have met my wife or had kids," Danilo assures.

Padovani had decided to forget basketball and study Medicine or Engineering. But his family encouraged him to return to the sport he loved so much, but this time in another role. He studied Physical Education and became a coach. He started with the minor divisions in Pinheiros and in 2012 Mogi das Cruzes, his town’s team, called him to be Paco García’s assistant. He fulfilled that task for three years and in 2016 he was the team’s main coach —the year when the team achieved the bronze medal in Liga de las Américas. With Guerrinha’s arrival, he's once again occupying an assistant role.

His dream of enjoying basketball as a player in Europe and in Brazil’s National Team couldn’t be fulfilled because of the accident. However, Danilo Padovani’s revenge just may arrive as a coach. He still keeps that dream alive.