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Silvia Linari: the captain of the Argentine adapted basketball team seeks to break prejudices

I always appreciate that life has allowed me to know this sport”, dice Silvia Linari, captain and emblem of the Argentine women’s adapted basketball team, The Wolves. When he was 8 years old, he suffered a road accident and had his leg amputated. However, he assures that he never suffered damages due to his disability and that the competition marked the course of his life.

Read also: Mariana Redi: how basketball helped her understand that dreams are to be fulfilled

Silvia is 44 years old and her relationship with adapted basketball was born just a decade ago. “It came into my life by chance. I did not know nor had I seen adapted basketball. When I was older, in 2011, I received an invitation from CILSA because a little sports school was being formed, “recalls Linari during an interview with TN Sports.

And he remarks: “At that time it seemed strange to me. Although I really like sports, I had no idea what adaptive basketball was, how I could play it on top of a chair. Curiosity called me and I faced. The first time I went to the club, to the sports hall, I sat in a chair and realized that it was good, that I With a ball and a chair I could slide”. There began an unbreakable relationship, which intensified over the years.

Silvia Linari’s path in adapted basketball

From that moment on, an unbreakable relationship with this sport was born, which became his great passion. “I got caught up in playing as a team and learning. Little by little I got hooked and got to know more. The following year I started competing in the third division. I loved. I think it came into my life at the right time”, Highlights the Santa Fe, who divides her day between training and her other job, in the education area of ​​the Municipality of Santa Fe.

Silvia understood that the only way to go far in this discipline was to take it seriously and practice hard. He did so and quickly began to see the results of his effort: “In the same 2011 came the call for the Argentine National Team. I went to Buenos Aires and went to the Ramsay Rehabilitation Center ”.

Her stage in the Argentine National Team: from knowing a new world to being the captain of Las Lobas

Linari was amazed at what she saw at the Las Lobas rally. “There was a group of girls who had been there for years. They understood the game, they handled the ball … and I was just getting started. There were things that I did not understand, that were confusing to me because it was new. I liked it more and more. I liked the girls’ environment, meeting girls from other provinces. And I said ‘here I stay’”, He remembers those first days with the Albiceleste.

Silvia Linari, captain and emblem of the Argentine adapted basketball team. (Photos: courtesy Silvia Linari)

-How did your new colleagues receive you?

With much affection. That made me want to go back. The captain at that time was Constance Coronel, which is currently my great friend and unconditional support. She fulfilled her role very well. She is a player that I admire and love very much. When she retired, I inherited the captaincy.

-What world did you find yourself when you started to represent Las Lobas?

With the arrival of the Selection, the trips began. We travel to compete and that also allows you to get to know other countries, other cultures. That same 2011 I went to my first Parapan American game held in Guadalajara and then many other tournaments appeared.

-Among other competitions, you had the opportunity to go to the Paralympic Games in Rio de Janeiro 2016. What memories do you have?

That was extraordinarily fabulous, magical. To have the possibility of knowing what an Olympic Village is, what is experienced there, both the competition on the field and in everything that is experienced outside. You see people from countries all over the world. Different customs, religions that are approaching. It is so cute, so magical. It is like a story. Inexplicable to tell you what it feels like to be there. I would love to go back to another one.

His next goal with the Argentine National Team: the Copa América 2022 and qualification for the World Cup

Although they fell in the South American final that was played recently at Cenard, Las Lobas obtained qualification for the Copa América 2022. The tournament will be played in the middle of next year at the venue to be designated.

Las Lobas are the Argentine women's adapted basketball team.  (Photo: courtesy Silvia Linari)
Las Lobas are the Argentine women’s adapted basketball team. (Photo: courtesy Silvia Linari)

“Although we lost the final with Brazil, we were satisfied with the performance and because the team never lowered the intensity. It remains to work and adjust things. I believe that in the Copa América we are going to make the leap. Now we focus on the good tournament we did and we are already thinking about the Copa América. We’re going for that ”, says the captain of the Argentine adapted basketball team.

In the continental tournament they will face very tough teams, but they trust in get one of the three places that are put into play for the World Cup which will also be played in 2022. “We bet on the America’s Cup. We will have strong rivals like the United States and Canada, who went to Tokyo and made the top five in the Paralympics, but we are not discouraged. On the contrary ”.

Silvia Linari and the final stretch of her career: how long will she play?

At 44, Linari has not defined how long he will continue on the courts. “I set short goals. My body and my head respond to me. The day I no longer feel like training or suffer from competing in high performance, I am going to step aside because it is the right thing to do. I am one of the players who think that you always have to train 100% and leave everything, “he says. And he adds: “Now, my head is ready to go to play the Copa América and then the World Cup.”

Silvia Linari, captain and emblem of Las Lobas.  (Photo: courtesy of Silvia Linari)
Silvia Linari, captain and emblem of Las Lobas. (Photo: courtesy of Silvia Linari)

“The day I retire I would like to continue linked to adapted basketball. I still do not know how I could contribute, I will discover it over time. Obviously I will have to study more. This is something I like. I like the competition. I calculate that seeing it from the back side will also be a challenge for me ”, he closes.

-What advice do you give your younger colleagues?

You have to study, you have to work. It’s something I try to encourage new girls. That they finish a degree, that they try to look for a job, that work dignifies. That they have it as a goal because after this if you don’t, you will be left with nothing.

Silvia Linari
Silvia Linari

-And those people who are wondering whether to start practicing this or another adapted sport?

Let them come, sit in the chair, see what it is about, what this beautiful sport is like, discover it, love it. And if basketball doesn’t convince you, there are plenty of other tailored sports to zoom in and find out. It is very important to play sports.

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