Racing de Olavarría heading to its second Federal League

The entity founded in 1916, has had its headquarters in Olavarría Park since 1927, was the founder of the Olavarría Basketball Association in 1933 and set up the first gym for basketball practice.

It was born with a soccer game, played at the corner of Lamadrid and General Paz, but basketball was the second sport and already in the 30s it became the most popular entity in the middle and the classic rival of Estudiantes, who inserted the sport of baskets in the city, by university students from Olavarrienses living in La Plata. In 1958, Racing, set up the first gym for basketball practice in the city of Olavarría.

History says that since 1985 he was the protagonist of a large part of the provincial competitions, but only in 2021 was he able to win it: it was on December 19 at the Tomás Corrado gym, in the El Picaflor neighborhood, in the city of Junín and home of Club Los Indios. , when they prevailed in the Final Four over the local team, Independiente de Tandil and Náutico San Pedro.

Curiously, he could not do it in 1988, when he had two American players with Argentine nationality in his ranks: Stephan Ray Stanford and Edgar Henry Merchant, protagonists of the National League in San Lorenzo de Almagro and GEPU of San Luis, respectively.

Racing played the first Federal Basketball League between January 28 and May 14, 2022, finishing with a record of 11-6, which includes the regular phase triple clashes against Unión de Mar del Plata, Estudiantes de La Plata, Deportivo Colón de Chivilcoy, Club Atlético Pilar and Independiente de Tandil and first round of playoffs against River Plate (lost 0-2).

In the second semester he played the first Pre Federal CAB 4 Region, which he won undefeated in 14 presentations, against Olimpo (Bahía Blanca), Estudiantes (Olavarría), Los Andes (Punta Alta) and Costa Sud (Tres Arroyos) and gave him access to the tournament about to start.

The squad that will put on the field will be the same one that won the Pre-Federal Tournament in the sports region and that, considering the last Federal League, has the returns of power forward Manuel Yaben, from Regatas de Concepción del Uruguay, Entre Ríos and Mateo Macrini, from Pérfora de Plaza Huincul, Neuquén and shooting guard/forward Simón Silber, from the Neuquén Centennial Sports Association, all three with leading roles in the LFB 2022.

In this way, all the members of the squad were born in Olavarría, except for the pivot from La Plata, Martín Delgado, the entity’s franchise player.

The biggest players will be captain Ariel Weisbeck, point guard Nicolás Lorenzo, the other along with Delgado with experience in higher competitions, Manuel Yaben, Martín Delgado, Gonzalo Alonso and Matías Santana. The Sub 23 Simón Silber and Tomás Mondini, the Sub 21 Sebastián Dupín, Iván Leal, Federico Vázquez and Tomás Baffo and the Sub 19 Francisco Fornes, Mateo Melo, Cristian Garcés and Yael Encinas.

The little star’s coaching staff has been led for a decade by the young coach Matías Orlando (35 years old, 04/10/87), at the same time Director of the ENEBA School in Olavarría, assisted by Axel Farías, coach of the brand new provincial runner-up U 19, Fernando Gabriel Otaviano, another of the most outstanding trainers in the city, Professor Enzo Jarrie, leader in physical preparation for highly competitive teams, the kinesiologist Eliseo Alberdi, the nutritionist Bristela Ríos Hiriart, the prop man Jorge Alberca and the Chief Team, Professor José Luis Salías, former player and coach of the entity.

“The Federal League is a level of competition that suits Racing very well, we are very satisfied with the performance in the last edition and this year with the returns, I understand that the team will have more variants.”

“We do not despair of incorporations, if we try to add youth, this will be a very different tournament, due to the hierarchy of the ten opponents that make up the Southeast zone.”

“The group is the best, it is very solid and we have the support of the best fans. Here we will become strong and as always, we will go out to be protagonists on any field. Unión will be a very difficult opponent, but the teams from the Pampas have armed themselves very well, they all brought reinforcements, it will be a great challenge and we are ready to face it”, said Matías Orlando, the head coach of the champion from Olavarriense and from the region.

Source: Racing Olavarría Press.