Legends Mario Milanesio and Donald Jones Return to Athens to Mentor Youth Divisions and Restore Club’s Glory

They share almost the same field where they met in 1985, now with a wooden floor (and parallel to the mosaic on which they ran so many times). There is the same dressing room in which they changed so many times to put on the green shirt. With very similar scents. They are several years older, but the passion is intact. Mario Milanesio and Donald Jones are back in an Athens that seeks to recover the values ​​that took them very high, to the top of Argentine and continental basketball.

In the mid-1980s, they came together to play in the inaugural season of the National League, the tournament that forever changed the life of the General Bustos neighborhood club, and theirs. This time, the two legends come together to give the Green a hand, working with the boys from the training divisions. Looking to improve them. But also to convey what Athens is. What it means to be a player of the most winning Argentine basketball.

“El Loco” Mario and Donald complete the first week of work on their return to the General Bustos neighborhood. They are in the evaluation stage of the boys, who work non-stop in long training sessions. The idea is that four times a week, the youth players practice under the watchful eye of Milanesio and Jones. In addition, the boys are playing the local tournament of the Cordobesa Association (ACBB), waiting, several of them, to train with the squad that will play the Argentine League, looking for promotion and return to the elite.

Donald Jones and Mario Milanesio, champions with Athens at the start of the National League, returned to the club to work with the youth divisions. (Jose Gabriel Hernandez / The Voice)

Mario and Donald meet with Mundo D and share the sensations of the return, the work, the objectives and also to talk about the relegation of Athens.

“When I returned to the club, which had not been for many years, it was a very nice mix of feelings. Here we spent very nice stages in the club, from when we changed in the locker room and we walked the five blocks to the Corazón de María (the stadium where Atenas was home at the beginning of the League). Many nice things came to me with the club”, highlighted the eldest of the Milanese, who keeps his job as a coach at Universitario.

“It’s nothing out of this world because of the many I’ve played here… I know the club very well, the canteen, the field that’s now wider and with parquet, but I take it as another challenge,” says Jones, who came in 1985 and stayed to live in the country, and in Córdoba in particular.

– Were you surprised by the call from Athens to do this work with the boys?

-Mario Milanesio: It was not a surprise. There were a couple of meetings with Osvaldo (Giordano, coordinator of the Athens Professional Basketball) in which the concern was born that we join the club in some way and we proposed to work specifically on what each one knows how to do; Donald everything that is the inside game and I in the pitches. After evaluating them, start improving them.

Mario Milanesio was a three-time National League champion with Athens as a player and as a coach he led the team that achieved the last conquest in the South American League. (Jose Gabriel Hernandez / The Voice)

-Donald Jones: It was very easy to say yes. I talked about it with Medardo (Ligorria, their partner in Athens), then we talked about it with Mario, I liked the idea as it was presented and I said to myself “how can I not join him”. We have worked for so many years to achieve great things with the club. And who is the best shooter we had…

-Did Mario throw a lot of pitches in those teams in Athens?

-DJ: Too much lol.

-MM: It happened little, Donald got angry…

-DJ: Another story, okay.

Donald Jones arrived in Athens in 1985, was a two-time National League champion, and stayed in Córdoba. (Jose Gabriel Hernandez / The Voice)

-What is the level found in the boys of the club?

-MM: The level is very good, mainly because they work with a lot of concentration, with a lot of desire. You can tell that they are players who are hungry for the best, to get there. Of course there is a lot of work ahead, they are training and we have to help them, support them to improve their game, to improve their basketball.

-Donald Jones: The boys are playing a lot of games… The little I saw them in practice, they are fine. We know that the minutes that are going to be won (in the Argentine League) are now, at work. It’s nice when a young person has desire, objectives. It’s not easy to get there but they know it and the training we are doing serves to give them confidence, strengths. The good thing is that they are doing something productive for them.

the descent of athens

Mario Milanesio and Donald Jones were part of the teams of the first, historical consecrations of Athens in the National League. In 1987 the first title came, beating Ferro, and a year later, the second, beating River in the final. In addition, Milanesio was part of the champion squad of the 2001/2002 season, in which Athens beat Estudiantes de Olavarría (4-1) and which marked the farewell to his brother Marcelo.

Mario Milanesio and Donald Jones completed the first week of their new job in Athens, carrying out basic tasks with the youth players. (Jose Gabriel Hernandez / The Voice)

“It was hard for any fan of Athens, and also for the basketball fans of Córdoba and the country. Athens is a registered trademark in the League, which earned it with its history, with its leadership, with its titles, and it is easy for us to digest it”, said Milanesio, born on June 2, 1963.

“The descent was very hard. I received 35,000 calls asking me why Athens descended…”, added Donald, who was born on March 24, 1962 in Florida, United States.

“The relegation did not happen in the last game with San Lorenzo. There was a lot that was not done well to get to relegation. It was painful and nobody likes that Athens plays in TNA (the Argentine League). It is reality, accept it and be smart to return to the National League,” added Mario, who was the coach of the last Atenas team that became champion in the South American League, in 2004.

“It’s hard, but in recent years Athens was slipping, but how lucky can you be. Now it’s getting better. You have to fasten your seatbelt and keep your head held high, decisively and go step by step,” Jones said.

-How did you find the club?

-MM: I really liked the reception I found, with a lot of respect, with a lot of warmth, remembering the history of the club. I liked the basketball atmosphere that exists.

-DJ: I found a club with tranquility. I spent six years of my life in Athens, and beyond the changes in leaders, blah, blah, blah, it’s an Athens family. It’s very nice to be back, I’m grateful that they keep me in mind.

2023-08-11 00:52:47
#hands #work #recover #values #Athens