We continue in this weekly character segment which consists of a tour of the ABB affiliated clubs, in which we will show the work done in their Mini-Basketball schools. Today: Basket Bay
WOMEN’S MINI BASKETBALL IN BASKET BAY
The Bahía Basket social school project has been going on for 10 years, both for men and women. In this particular case we will delve into their work in the Women’s Mini Basketball, where the institution headed by Pepe Sánchez, develops the activity in the North Sports Center.
With the coordination of Julian Luini and the work on the court by Nadia Vrizz, Bahía Basket bets on the training of women’s basketball in a sector of the city that until recently did not have a place of reference for the mother sport of Bahía Blanca.
«We work differently with a social school in the sense that what is sought is to contain each athlete in their development and we move away a little from the individual technical section, which is important and necessary, but it is not a priority for us from the objectives principals»says Luini.
«We try to aim at the comprehensive development of the players, so the technical issue is one more of all the edges on which we work. For this reason, we want the space to be one of encounter, participation and, above all, that the girls feel in a safe and content place, both for the teachers and for the institution».
Big Six Official Sponsor of the Bahiense Mini Basketball
Nadia Vrizz is an inescapable reference in women’s basketball in the city, multiple champion and scorer with different clubs, she is in charge of carrying out the work in Escuelita and Mini Básquet.
«In Pre-Mini female we have around 25/30 girls. The truth is that I am very happy and surprised by the amount and perspective of growth that we have been having. In Mini Basketball we have 15 girls. This year was an explosion, we had been fighting to add more and more players and luckily now we have a good number»says Nadia
«The Bahía Básquet project here in the North Sports Center has a social characteristic, most of the girls come from the neighborhood and the area. It is a job that has been carried out for 10 years in conjunction with the Municipality.”
«At first it was for boys and I joined the following year with the girls. At Escuelita we work in a mixed way with a shift of five and six years and we also have six and seven years. We have about 160 boys/girls.
The Pre-Mini of Bahía Basket
As for the female, the importance of working especially in the initial categories is of paramount importance so that continuity and consolidation of the activity can be achieved. This is something that Bahía Basket understands and tries to replicate.
«The objective with women’s basketball is undoubtedly to promote the activity and offer ourselves as a reference entity in this regard. Our first objective is to increase enrollment and the categories that we currently have”, afirma Luini.
«As a medium and long-term goal, to have the entire range of categories in Bahia, in addition to Mini Basketball. We are working on it and with the base that we have in Initials, if we can replicate it over time, we will achieve it.
Nadia Vrizz in full training
The former El Nacional player is clear that the most important thing in Women’s Mini Basketball is to try to generate that natural question that the activity exists and that it is consolidated not only in Bahía Basket, but also throughout the city.
«At the time, when they proposed to me to participate in the project, I loved the idea because it was an area of the city where there were no basketball clubs and they had to work from scratch. It is a nice challenge to teach this that I love doing so much»says Nadia.
«For me, who went through a lot of effort to be able to play basketball, it is a great satisfaction to have so many girls in Mini Basketball, because it is the future and the continuity of women’s basketball over time. The fact of being as a trainer and seeing so many girls who want to play basketball makes me very happy, because it gives us the possibility in the future of putting together the U13 and U15 for Women».
“We have been fighting for a long time so that continuity can be given in the training categories and the girls can continue in Bahía Basket and not have to go to another institution because we could not put together the category.”
The girls of Mini Basketball of Bahia
In this sense, the basketball coordinator follows the same line as the coach: “We understand basketball as a means and not as an end. In the Mini Basketball we aim for a meeting place so that the boys and girls can find a space for enjoyment where they can have a good time doing the activity and feel part of something that makes them happy”, Luini closed.
The progress of women’s basketball in the city is evident, but we must continue working to consolidate it over time as an alternative to other sports that are more deeply rooted with the girls of the city.
«There is a growth in Mini Basketball at a global level and that is something very important, because women’s basketball needs a base that can be replicated over time so that it becomes natural as in men’s. But you have to keep working. We are still far from the ideal, it is improving steadily, but think that when I arrived in the city there was no local tournament, so we are progressing little by little »says Vrizz.
“It is a great advance that the girls in Mini Basketball and other categories can play every weekend, but I repeat, we are still far from ideal. In this sense, my main objective is to transmit to the girls the love for basketball so that they do not end up going to other activities out of frustration or because they cannot compete.
Bahía Basket understands that in the learning processes at an early age there is a close relationship between group / individual training directly linked to fun and containment.
“We work a lot on the recreational issue in Mini Basketball and on integration as a group, because strengthening these aspects allows us to make the girls want to continue to bond with each other and learn basketball on a daily basis”says Nadia.
“Seeing that the girls go from the initial categories and continue to be linked to the activity is the greatest satisfaction I have, because it means that I did the main job well, which is to promote love for basketball.”
«When I see girls who trained with me and are now in other clubs playing, it is a great joy, even though they had to migrate to another institution because we do not have the categories at the moment, I feel that we achieved the task of transmitting the passion and the love for this beautiful sport». The coach finished.
Bahía Basket aims at comprehensive training in a sector of the city that is entering the activity hand in hand with the institution. Boys and girls from the North neighborhood have known, for 10 years, that there is a reference site where they can count on the place to practice basketball.
