The National Team team that wants to write a new page in the history of Chilean basketball

SANTIAGO (Chile) – Chile will begin a new stage this Monday when they debut with their U17 national team in the South American tournament of the category, as locals, at the Olympic Training Center (CEO) in Santiago, after the tournament was rescheduled due to the social conflicts recently taking place in the Andean country.

Different teams, fostered by the Chilean Basketball Federation (FEBA Chile), including tours through Europe and the United States, have strengthened both the female and male national teams. This group is the nearest future for the senior team, which is why the Federation is constantly focusing on the best development and formation of these team members both as athletes and as people. There are several activities surrounding the training sessions, like the one this national team held for the participants of Deportes Down, a non-profit organization that fosters sports in children with Down Syndrome in the South American country, and that will attend several of the tournament's activities.

“We're one of the 10 federations FIBA has chosen in the Americas to foster its development. This development also brings training opportunities for coaches throughout the country,” said Irán Arcos, FEBA Chile President, who announced that tickets to the tournament will be free so that the Chilean family can attend all games played during the next five days.

“There are no more excuses to not be with the players in this challenge. Free entrance,” said the president on social media.

 
“It's been a newsworthy year for Chilean basketball. As a Federation, organizing this tournament is an important task for our country. Santiago is a good bet. We know that basketball is practiced a lot in other regions, but we're confident that the capital city's public will join us in this international event. It’ll be a good chance to see our young players and their development,” Arcos added.

The regional competition qualifies to the U-18 World Cup Qualifiers in 2020, and the national team has been getting ready for a long time to achieve the goals to develop Chilean basketball.

“Chile, at any level, has its sights set on moving to the next international level. In this case, the goal is the qualifiers, but the main objective is that we be the best we can be. In October we had a tour in Argentina, where we played four games, one of which was against the U17 national team. When we came back, the entire team stayed in Santiago. Because the situation didn’t warrant playing in the tournament, it was suspended. Everyone went back home, and we went almost a month without playing for security reasons,” said the current national team coach, Daniel Frola, to FIBA.basketball.

Because of this situation, the national team resumed their work on Monday, November 18, with a double session at the CEO to go in the best possible shape to the South American event.

“We trained everything in this time, not only for the South American championship but also for the players’ development, with processes of almost two years that were focused on this event,” said the coach, who added: “Now, we're trying to do the best we can: motivate the guys, go over some concepts we had. Two players are absent (Alonso Soto and Lucas Henderson) who, due to academic commitments in the United States, couldn’t be here on this new date. To make up a bit for this loss to what we had planned, we've added Álvaro Messina and Manuel Flores.”

Paraguay is no longer participating in the tournament, but this didn’t alter the groups' distribution. Argentina, Colombia, Uruguay, and Venezuela will make up Group A; while Chile, Brazil and Ecuador will face each other in Group B. In Group B’s case, there’ll be a free selection in each elimination instance.

History has it that the U17 national team were champions in the 2017 edition of the South American Championship in Lima, Peru. However, this new national team is also working on going into national basketball history while also continuing their international path.

“Half of the team is young, born in 2003. We've improved our height with players like Andrés Domínguez, who's 6’9”, and we believe that our strength will be the team game. Our motto is “the best we can be.” The most outstanding players are Felipe Inyaco and Ty Jones. It’ll be a South American Championship of a very good level, with important players from all countries. It’ll be a beautiful event for young players to continue to develop,” said Frola, who was an assistant coach in that championship-winning team.

Progress and ambition identify the new Chilean basketball generation, who will try, through their players, in international tournaments or in camps and training sessions, to learn the most they can and continue to grow to reach their goals for 2019. This, while they strengthen their national teams up to the senior team and, from there, continue the work and have more and better international appearances.

FIBA