Lolo Encinas applauds during a training session for her team in Illunbe. /
Gipuzkoa Basket – Iraurgi
The Guuk Gipuzkoa coach claims two days after facing Juaristi Iraurgi that “we have two teams in LEB Oro and there is no team that can say that it plays with so many people from the province”
Lolo Encinas appeared this Friday in the press room of the Angulas Aguinaga Arena two days after facing Juaristi Iraurgi (Sunday, 6:00 p.m.) in San Sebastián. It will be the third time that both Gipuzkoan teams face each other, and Lolo Encinas wanted to value this circumstance that basketball in the territory experiences in an exceptional way and raise his voice to emphasize that “this is not normal.”
After years in which Gipuzkoa Basket has been required to bet more on the Gipuzkoan player and talent, last year the club took an important first step by hiring a home coach for the first time in history and having up to four Gipuzkoan players in template. This year all this structure has been maintained and the youth system agreement with Easo has been added, which allows, among other aspects, that the Beasaindarra Iñigo de la Hera is in LEB Oro dynamics while also playing in the EBA.
However, the social mass has barely grown in the twenty games that the team has played at home since October 2021, and when asked how fans of the sport of the basket can be hooked, Encinas has responded more extensively than in the usual. «We have two teams in LEB Oro with Bidasoa playing in Europe, Real, Real female, Bera Bera being champion, IDK playing in Europe… We always talk about basketball being a sport with many licenses in the territory , that there are many people who like basketball and that we like Gipuzkoans and their hard-working character. All of this is fine, and that’s why we’re here and we believe in it, but let’s see if we can now lend a hand and support those who have truly supported people from Gipuzkoa. This only consists of going, both to the Azkoitia or Azpeitia pavilion and to the Angulas Aguinaga Arena. Do we want that? We are going to prove it, and the best example to do so is by going to the derby on Sunday.
The Gipuzkoans in the first team are Aitor Zubizarreta, Mikel Motos, Xabi Oroz and Xabi Beraza, while in Juaristi Iraurgi Beñat Hevia, Ierai Aizpitarte, Ibon Guridi and Manex Ansorregi are the local representatives, in addition to the fact that the coach on both benches is also Guipuzcoan. “There are many players here. It is not like other years, that you can ask yourself ‘who are those?’ All have gone through lower categories. Me too, Mikel Odriozola too, those from Iraurgi have all played in Gipuzkoa teams… If there is an opportunity, it is this Sunday, because this is not normal”, he repeated to underline that “there is no team in this category that can say that it plays with so many people from the province, not to mention the community. None. I see it clearly and I think it is a beautiful day, but this already depends on the people », he concluded.
