An Uruguayan Basketball Training Center that is fundamental for the development of Uruguayan basketball

MONTEVIDEO (Uruguay) - Having your own Training Center is essential for federations and the preparation of their national teams. This is how the idea of ​​the Uruguayan Basketball Federation (FUBB) emerged to be able to integrate all their teams, in one place, providing them with the necessary tools to face their preparations for the different tournaments and to strengthen their basketball to compete in international tournaments.

Inaugurated on December 28, 2016, the CEFUBB, from management that was carried out in the previous leadership, with Ney Castillo, President of the FUBB from 2002 to 2016, and its body of work, brings together all the male teams and female, formative and older, both 3x3 and 5x5 basketball. All in one place with human resources from all areas participate daily in numerous training.

It was in March of the aforementioned year, where the FUBB and the National Secretary of Sport of the Presidency of the Republic, joined and made an agreement after much work to be able to inaugurate this space, where the national teams join and can acquire the necessary tools for the development of basketball.

Coaches, assistants, physical education teachers, doctors, physiotherapists, psychologists, nutritionists and professionals in the areas of integrity, marketing, among others, are part of the CEFUBB, where there is also a very careful image of the strategic partners of the FUBB.

Also, it has a gym, teacher's room, scouting, where different talks are given, in addition to changing rooms and all the amenities, which must have a space dedicated to the training of selections of a sport.

“It is a very important place for the development of our basketball training. It is an elementary tool for the growth of the sport in the country. We had been renting different gyms and the CEFUBB was born to be a place of belonging. This allowed us to develop a program to work with all generations, throughout the year, ”said FIBB President Ricardo Vairo at FIBA.basketball.

The national teams carried out their training periods in different gyms, borrowed or rented, but in April 2016, after obtaining the space, repair work was carried out until it was properly to be the new and only Uruguayan basketball house, which today houses to all country selections.

“It is the realization of a shared dream between the FUBB and the National Secretariat of Sport and for which we work in a coordinated and committed way. The absence of a Training Center for the development of national teams was a matter of concern, as well as an objective problem for the Federation itself. We installed a Center in closed sports facilities, practically in a state of total disuse, and we managed to prepare them together so that the CEFUBB can operate in excellent conditions in equipment and service, ”added Fernando Cáceres, Director of the National Secretariat of Sports of the Presidency of the Oriental Republic of Uruguay.

“It is the concretion of a shared effort to develop the sport in conditions of gender equality. In Uruguayan sport, male sex predominates, so the possibility of having a development space to promote women's participation in sport and basketball is very important. ”

The FUBB, which turned 104 years old, and has been affiliated with FIBA ​​Americas since 1975, feels the creation of CEFUBB as a before and after in Uruguayan basketball.

From U12 to the Senior National Team, they train at CEFUBB at different stages of the year. So it is that coaches and leaders can observe all the players and generate workspaces to strengthen each of the categories.

“It is the house of our federation, where we project the future of our players and enjoy the present, to acquire the tools and give our teams the greatest possible comfort. We have instrumented a gym, we have a swimming pool, medical and physiotherapy room and changing rooms suitable for high-performance needs. It is today one of the best courts in the country that we can enjoy. We are in an area that allows us to develop in the best way. The selections make the CEFUBB our home ”, said Edgardo Kogan, coach of the Uruguay National Team.

More than 400 players from the country practice in the CEFUBB and the Federation, also, it organizes different Training Camps, where interior players are presented, who have a projection, from initiation to U15 and that is also another possibility to evaluate to the best prospects who play basketball in the country.

 
“For us, CEFUBB marked a before and after in several ways. Identity is key to any sports discipline. We managed to have a place of belonging, where it allows us to interrelate a lot of work, whether female or male, youth categories or older. Many times more small categories are trained alongside players like Bruno Fitipaldo or Esteban Batista and that creates a link, which was very difficult to find. It allows us to organize, something key as a collective team with training programs in all categories. I feel envy in a good way because in our time it did not exist. The training is not only sports, but it is also above all values, ”said Marcelo Capalbo, national coach.

“Undoubtedly it was a very big change for basketball in Uruguay. Before the Federation rented the fields of the different teams to train and had to move with all the materials. All categories and branches were separated and logistics became quite complicated. Undoubtedly, the creation of CEFUBB simplified everything. It is our house and we work hard to achieve this Sports Center. Seeing a lot of kids go by there makes us proud, ”said Sergio Benítez, FUBB Sports Operational Manager.

“It has been a radical change, an improvement in the quality of all services. Thanks to this Center we were able to centralize the work and be autonomous and have our house, which is not a minor detail. It allows us to work with important autonomy and independence. Since 2015 I have been in the Federation and today I see CEFUBB as a before and after in Uruguay's basketball, ”said Marcelo Bessio, Physical Trainer of the National Team, which also coordinates the national physical plans of all training categories.

Not only Uruguayans see the growth of basketball in the country, but also foreigners such as Pepe Sáez, FIBA ​​Consultant, who was present at CEFUBB, on June 22 and was amazed.

 “The FUBB is a federation that is constantly evolving and working and trying to achieve its goals in both men's and women's basketball and from the base categories. Having your training place is very important for the future because it means planning, possibilities to carry out common projects, both at the level of what is the country with CONSUBASQUET and FIBA ​​and so that Uruguay can be at the top of the elite of world basketball. Uruguay is not only a country of the present but a great country of the future in the world of basketball. ”

For the first time in history, all basketball teams focus on the CEFUBB. According to all the actors in this project and those who enjoy and use it today, it is a qualitative leap, because for decades the training teams had to occupy spaces that the different clubs gave them, fulfilling certain hours, with all the inconvenience that the transfer generates of materials and being in different places, without the possibility of having something of your own, that brings everything together in one place.

“We have been working differently when it comes to national basketball teams. All this without losing the north, knowing that the final objective is the best possible figuration of the Major Selection, which is the apex of the pyramid, supported by a large base formed by the formative divisions. As it was not done for a long time, boys from all corners of the country could be integrated into the project, and that has two reasons: the excellent planning carried out by leaders and technical bodies of each of the formative divisions and a physical place with the minimum essential amenities. Without such a place, it would not have been possible the work in progress that has been carried out with the youth teams, ”said Diego Larroque, Chief Medical Officer of the Uruguayan National Team's health team, at FIBA.basketball, com.

For its part, women's basketball has grown a lot in recent years in the world and Uruguay is not exempt. Due to the investment of the clubs, which are increasingly betting on gender, and for several projects, which are giving importance to development, in addition to the fundamental support of parents. In the last two years, the promotion in social networks has helped the dissemination and massification of basketball and to that was added the possibility of having its own space in the CEFUBB. Being able to see the selections during a process of 2 or 3 years, allows us to follow up on a technical, tactical and fundamental level the physical aspect and the protagonists know it.

“Having a home of your own is a turning point in the selection project. Medical, nutritional care and everything the staff does is permanently in the Center. We are all part of a single project, that of the Federation, and we are aligned in the methodology of what we want for national basketball, ”said Alejandro Álvarez, Coordinator of the Women's Basketball Teams, since 2006.

“The CEFUBB is part of a structure, an identity. For boys category U14, it is a great experience to start observing what a High-Performance Center is, where historical players from the Uruguay National Team and other boys from different generations pass, the importance of them living together and having the same conditions are part of a training and experiences that are assimilating. The great capital of CEFUBB is to have a place with identity, ”said Javier Isis, coach of the U14 men's team, technical assistant of the Senior Team, coach of the training teams and 3x3 basketball.

Uruguayan basketball is moving through a generational replacement with the senior team in the women's branch, has not yet achieved a South American podium and that is one of the objectives, but it will have, for the first time, the opportunity to participate in the 3x3 format in the Pan American Games of Lima, something that motivates an entire federation that works in post of this emergence.

FIBA