Signorelli committed and excited about Uruguay's potential
MONTEVIDEO (2016 South American Championship) - The Uruguayan Federation is already thinking about their 2016 international calendar and has recently introduced the new national team coach, Marcelo Signorelli, who has come on board with the sole mission of maximizing the country’s possibilities going forward.
Signorelli, 53, brings to the national team a more than 20-year coaching résume, where he won two titles in the Uruguayan national league (with Biguá 2008 and Hebraica Macabi in 2012). In addition, the coach has accumulated international club experience, having worked the sidelines in Italy, Mexico, Paraguay and recently with the Correcaminos de Colon in the DIRECTV Liga de las Americas in Panama.
"To be coaching my country’s national team gives me a sense of infinite joy.", said Signorelli. "There were some rumours that I could get it but I did not want to get disillusioned if it did not happen. Now it did and I’m ecstatic about the opportunity. Every coach dreams of being at the helm of the national team and for me fulfill that dream is source of great pride, but also carries with it a lot of responsibility."
After participating in the 1986 FIBA Basketball World Cup and 1984 Los Angeles Olympic Games, the Uruguay national has not enjoyed the same level of success. Yes, the victories in the 1995 and 1997 South American Championship along with the bronze medal at the 2007 Pan American Games were significant but the country was not able to make it back to the world stage.
"Uruguay tiene que apostar al básquetbol", opinó Marcelo Signorelli https://t.co/V8oZLvqqgW pic.twitter.com/BwM1kCew9q
— El Pais TV (@elpaistv) April 7, 2016
Signorelli is realistic about this 2016 version of the national team and sees lots of opportunities for growth.
"This group has potential, because there are good players. Uruguay has always been competitive. Now we have to work to do so at a higher level. It will be a nice challenge for the group. International basketball has changed, many countries made progress and we must try to follow their example."
The coach will debut at the South American Championship, to be held in Venezuela on June 26-July 2. Signorelli sees the tournament as the perfect test, for this generation of Uruguayan players to compare themselves against perennial powerhouses from the region.
"The team has to be complete, with every player that is available in order to have full preparation for the championship. The ideal situation is for us to grow within the competition and take it day by day and win by win. We will face national team programs like Argentina, Brazil and Venezuela that will be playing in the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympic Games and we must take advantage of the opportunity presented to us of being in the same court and giving our all against them. They will be focused on Rio and that might give us an opportunity for the upset. Uruguay has always been competitive in South America."
"To have concrete possibilities Uruguay should assemble a team with well defined roles, intensity on the defensive side of the court, intelligence and good decision making. The game today is played with great intensity and at high speed and we must be focused on having those be our qualities too."
Signorelli recibió a Referí en la Federación Uruguaya de Básquetbol y dio una clase conceptual de lo que pretende https://t.co/okAcWsLAhX
— Referí (@Referiuy) April 1, 2016
The new Uruguayan coach said that he will call every available player, even the veterans. However, he insists on this being the perfect opportunity to jumpstart a generational change.
"The veterans playing overseas and in other national leagues in the continent have told me they are available. Having the best players will increase our strength. At the same time I want to incorporate the young guys into the process, even those who maybe will not end up making the team, to see them firsthand. I think there is material for the future and the generation has to come forward. You always have to target young players but working with them is the only way in which we can know how fast can we implement this generational change."
Signorelli has the 2017 FIBA New Competition System as one of his objectives and is hoping a good performance in the South American Championship will allow him to stay on and compete for a spot in a 2019 FIBA Basketball World Cup that will now have a 32-team field and more opportunities for teams in the Americas region.
"My goal is to be there for the 2019 World Cup qualifiers, because I am very excited about the challenge that the new system will present to our country and our possibilities to go back to the world stage, but the reality is that initial agreement with the Federation is just for this year. My continuity will depend on what ends up happening this summer. Of course we are thinking about a long-term project and we hope to get a chance to put it in place next year.", he concluded.
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