He was South American and Uruguayan League champion with Biguá, a member of the ideal quintet of the Liga de las Américas 2018 with Regatas de Corrientes, is a national team player, played three seasons in the ascent of Spain and found in Brazil his ideal place to play soccer. basketball. However, at just 31 years old, Santiago “Pepo” Vidal decided to turn around the payments and dreams big with the Villa Biarritz team: “I want them to be a competitive team again, always fighting in the top positions.”
Last year, Vidal played for Unifacisa Paraiba in Brazil averaging 6.3 points and 7.6 assists per game (he played 23). “It was in the league that I felt more comfortable. I like the game of running and shooting and in Brazil there is a lot of individual talent, I had teammates with a high percentage of 3-point hits and that made us play against open defenses that left me room for play my game. In addition, the Brazilian has a natural joy that taught me a lot. I am very strict and meticulous with my game, very self-demanding and for me losing a match is like hitting my head against the wall. One day we lost by 15 points and they sat down to eat barbecue and drink beer as if nothing had happened. They live it differently: ‘That’s it, we lost, we can’t change anymore,’ they told me. It was a lesson, “he told Referee the base of 1.80 meters.
Leonardo Carreño
The pandemic brought him back to Uruguay last year. And that allowed him to rethink his life. His wife pushed him to finish his studies and in December 2020 he received his degree as an economist at the University of Montevideo.
“It was difficult to match the sport with the career. I started the Economics degree in 2008 and until 2013 I was doing subjects because the UM had the peculiarity that the classes were always face-to-face and to save you have to have an 80% presence. The double shift of the internship made it almost impossible for me. It was a superhuman effort to advance, but in 2015 I went abroad and I had four pending subjects. Last year, while in Brazil, I found out that the University started teaching online classes, My wife began to prod me with what was the moment and in July I saved two subjects. In December, already in Uruguay, I saved the two that remained and I graduated. It was closing a stage. It was not easy to go back to the books after a while, but it was something that I had promised my parents and I owed, “he explained.
“Sometimes athletes do not see that having a plan B is always good. I am not saying it because of the economy, but to open our heads. We all feel bad at sports or frustrated at times and having the faculty allowed me to combine the race with studying, changing the chip and not always thinking about the ball “.
Salvador, his two-and-a-half-year-old son, was born and after 25 days he left for Spain where Vidal played for Ourense Baloncesto, a club he defended in the 2018-2019 season in the LEB oro, the second division of Iberian basketball.
“We played once a week and the week was very long, the training sessions were very tedious: Monday to Wednesday double time, multiple video sessions to analyze the rival and the game was very physical. You play against Serbs, Croats, Latvians, Lithuanians, many players of 2.15 m, 2.18 m that are not seen in America “. There he averaged 7.5 points and 5.5 assistance in 31 games.
In Ourense, Galicia, Vidal and his wife became close friends with the goalkeeper from Compostela, Patricio Guillén and his wife Sira. That will be the name of Vidal’s second daughter they are waiting for in early March. For that reason, the point guard asked not to be called up for the last window of the PreAmericup that will be played on February 21 and 22 in Cali, against Paraguay and Panama.
Carlos Pazos
With the Uruguayan team
He was taken to Spain by the superlative level that he demonstrated between 2016 and 2018 in Regatas de Corrientes. In the first season they reached the final of the Argentine League and lost against San Lorenzo. In the second they reached the Final Four of the Liga de las Américas and Vidal was chosen as the ideal team for the tournament.
Vidal highlights the great work done by Gabriel Piccato, today the coach of the Argentine team. In addition, he shared a team with Paolo Quinteros. “He got the most out of us. We played an impressive league and we beat San Martín in the semifinal, the classic they came as favorites. I had never experienced something like this: a city paralyzed by basketball. In the final, we had the best San Lorenzo. in history and afterwards, the Liga de las Americas was my best tournament. “
Inés Guimaraens
League 2014-2015, with Trouville against Jaime Lloreda of Atenas
An Argentine will direct him in the 2021 Special League that will start in March: Hernán Laginestra. “He is a very hard-working and detailed coach. But it is still a bit strange how we work because we train without contact and without opposition, because it is a sport that is played in closed spaces, which is complicated.”
Vidal had offers to continue in Brazil. But because of the pandemic, for his family and also for his heart, he chose to return to Biguá.
“It is a big challenge, much bigger than people think. I do not come with the idea of staying permanently in Uruguay, I am still young for the life of the basketball player. But I do feel in the best moment of my career. For him knowledge of the game, maturity and experience. Also because of how hard I am training. My goal is for Biguá to be competitive again, to be in the top positions again. I know it will take a while because this implies building a project, “he said.
Vidal signed a contract for the special league and for another two seasons with clauses that allow him to go abroad once each season is over.
El Pepo was 19 years old when in 2008 Néstor “Che” García chose him as the 12th player to travel to Guayaquil to play the South American Club. At that time he also played soccer at Old Ivy, in the University League. One day before traveling he tied his boots and went to the field. He played catch and they faced Peñarol. He made three goals and they tied 3-3. “I missed one that I remember to this day.” The next day he was traveling by plane with Leandro García Morales, Martín Osimani, Joaquín Osimani, Anthony Young, Mathías Calfani, Juan Rovira and company to become the last Uruguayan team to reign in America.
He also won the 2008-2009 Uruguayan League in finals against Hebraica Macabi. “Che marked me a lot in my career and his passage through the club remained for history. I don’t know how far he would have come with football. I was 14 years old when I had polls to do inferiors, but my parents always insisted with studies and that I think I was not mature enough to face it. Friends and the environment led me to basketball. ”
Carlos Pazos
With Rubén Magnano
Today he has to be one of the referents of the selection. “You can see that there is a replacement. In the last window we were having breakfast and I realized that he was one of the oldest in age and traveled. There are many new boys who play in Argentina and who paint beautiful and Rubén (Magnano) finds it great to work with young people because he has a lot to deliver “. With Luciano Parodi, Bruno Fitipaldo and Mathías Calfani, Vidal will be one of the leaders of the next heavenly years.
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