The joy he exuded was immense. Despite the defeat (88-94), the Basketball Girona he had just faced a whole one Real Madrid in the return of the ACB to Fontajau fourteen years later. A lot of memories went through his mind and also the value of his career. Èric Vila (Girona, 1998) had made his dream come true, the one he had since childhood when he watched Akasvayu’s matches from the stands or was part of the mobilizations to try to stop the inevitable disappearance of the Girona club from the elite. September 28, 2022 will be a date you will always remember.
“It has been a dream come true. For a Girona player, being able to play for your hometown team against Real Madrid and Fontajau is an incredible experience. I am very happy and grateful to all the people who came to cheer us on, hopefully we can give them a lot of joy this season”, explained Vila after the match.
The winger from Girona signed for Básquet Girona in the summer of 2021 with great desire and excitement to start a new path with his family in his professional career. He had just overcome a complicated period, marked by injury, in the American college league and needed to find the meaning of basketball again. Marc Gasol bet to open the doors of his project and the outcome could not have been better. The turning point was the addition of the president to the court because then Vila was placed in the position of 4 and could have a clearer role in the team. His progression was remarkable and culminated in a historic rise to the ACB which Girona could also celebrate at home (the Final Four was in Fontajau).
“He was a member of Akasvayu and had seen Marc, Middleton and company play. Returning the team to the ACB and being able to play there is a dream, brutal”, he insisted.
Vila had to leave Girona at a very young age to complete his training at Barça after the Blaugrana noticed his talent when he was playing at Sant Josep and signed him in 2010. With Barça he made his ACB debut with 16 years old in 2014. Much earlier he was already enjoying basketball with Akasvayu in Fontajau. He did it from the stands and imagined he would one day do it from the pitch, although the club’s demise in 2008 turned the dream into a utopia. Fourteen years later, however, he was able to make it a reality thanks to his efforts and Gasol’s push to return the city to the elite.
