After 52 years linked to tennis in our city, the renowned coach Jorge “black” Millajer announced his retirement. His legacy spanned four generations and always linked to the La Fábrica club.
At 67, the “black”, as everyone knows them in San Francisco, decided to stop and stop teaching tennis. His career makes him one of the benchmarks of sport in the city. Despite his time as a player for the Sport Automóvil Club, his sporting life was referenced with La Fábrica Club.
The decision to quit teaching tennis was not an overnight thing. “I was already thinking about it last year. It was many years, 42 years dedicating myself to teaching tennis. The decision made me take this damn pandemic because several acquaintances and friends have brought me. It made me sad and I thought that they didn’t enjoy life. So I told myself that I was already making a sacrifice and I thought I’d enjoy my time “.
Millajer said that “Tennis absorbed me a lot of time, because I allowed it. It was twelve or thirteen hours a day inside the club for many years and then I said that I have come this far. I want to enjoy what I have left to live. I did everything I could to post this sport, which for me is a passion. I have made hundreds of friends “.
How it started with tennis
Jorge started at a very young age with the racket, from the age of 15 he began to play. “I worked in a shoe store and a client told me that he was in a hurry because he had to teach tennis. He told me that he was at La Fábrica Militar. So I asked him how I could play and he told me to buy a racket and a pair of shoes and go, that’s where I started in 1968 when I was 15 years old “.
That client was the tennis teacher Victorio Villarreal who later took him to the Sport Automóvil Club to represent him. His career as a tennis player for 20 years, as he played competitively until he was 35.
His beginnings as a teacher
In 1978 it was when a proposal catapulted him to what it is today. “One day I went to La Fábrica Club to visit my friends who were playing tennis and I started playing with them. At that moment a club director asked me if I wanted to teach. I was 25 years old and I said yes “.
The “black” told DSP that “I didn’t take a tennis teacher course, but I did read a lot because I liked it and I already had experience with the game. What you had to know how to transmit and that I could learn from my teachers. I started giving on Wednesday and Friday nights and Sunday morning because I worked in a shop. He gave classes to all the people of La Fábrica Militar “.
From the year until Friday, December 27, 2020, he never stopped giving tennis lessons. They were 42 uninterrupted years of teacher always in the same club. “At the beginning we only had one court. People joined in, the exclusivity that La Fábrica had at that time was opened and we started having kids”.
Its beginnings were in a hard time for Argentine society since the de facto government was in command. “They always had enormous respect for me and they behaved very well. They always gave me unconditional support to work with the fields as the club grew ”.
His years as a teacher
Almost four generations of tennis players saw Jorge Millajer pass through the La Fábrica Club courts and that is what he takes with him.
“When we formed a competitive team the club decided to join the Liga del Litoral de Tenis. We played in four categories representing the city. Tennis in the city has grown a lot since the explosion of Guillermo Vilas. From having 15 students we go to having 25 and thus growing. We got to have 120 students “Millajer assured.
Together with the litter of new coaches he was able to create the local San Francisco league together with the Sport Automóvil Club and San Isidro clubs.
Regarding his concepts as a teacher, he explained that “For us the result is on the sidelines because I always assumed that pressure is the worst thing that can happen to a boy. We help them learn for themselves. It is about the boys being good people and teammates, we never look for the result but rather that the boy is happy on the pitch “.
It has passed from generation to generation of families. “I have students who are 50 years old today and they bring their children to learn”.
The day after Jorge Millajer at La Fábrica is in good hands. “Javier Bianchi has the same culture as mine. He knows that the ideal is to see a happy boy but learning. The boy later recognizes you “.
Tennis in your life
Millajer was accurate in giving a definition of what he feels about this sport. “For me it is my life and my passion, this is not a job, I never considered it that way. It is a joy to enter the club and teach five-year-olds and then you meet them at 20 and they say goodbye to you, teacher ”.
Added that “Those are things that are priceless. Many of those boys treat me as if I were the father and I as if they were my children “.
After deciding to leave teaching, he expressed that “It brought me a lot of recognitions, from friends, from good players. In 2011 we had 15 players at the provincial and national level, we worked very well together with Javier Bianchi for 22 years “.
The sense of belonging is also something of his own. “La Fábrica Club is my home. I was lucky to have the concession for nine years. The memories I have are all pleasant. I am not going to leave the club and some return to visit friends will surely give. I know every corner of the club “.
Jorge is grateful and that is why he ended by saying that “I thank the parents who entrusted the boys and me to me. To the club, to the Codini family who trusted me and to those who gave me the opportunity to be in this club. Also to Javier Bianchi, my lifelong friend who is like a brother. To my family because I have spent my days inside the club and not giving them the time to be with them “.
