Iker Garmendia: The Rising Spanish Basketball Star Heading to the NBA All-Star Camp

The NBA has selected the 40 greatest emerging high school-age talents from around the world to participate in the eighth edition of Basketball Without Borders, a camp during the 2024 NBA All Star. Among them, a single Spaniard. Iker Garmendia (Gavà, 2006), a 17-year-old forward for Joventut de Badalona. “He is one of the pearls of Penya and youth basketball at this moment,” says his coach, Javi Aparicio. In sports, he is excellent. Personally, everyone in the entity emphasizes that he is “a sweetheart.”

In the Penya youth team locker room, no one is surprised that Iker Garmendia isolates himself listening to music on his headphones before a game. He does not participate in conversations, because the rest of the world does not exist for him. “It’s his way of concentrating,” his coach says of him. Just as he has not surprised anyone with his first foray into the NBA universe -this weekend, between February 16 and 18-. At the club, they receive him normally: “It’s a way they have to keep as many players under control as possible,” says the youth team director, David Jimeno. The player, too. “He knows it’s a normal thing. He has to soak up everything,” explains Jimeno. And his coach adds: “It is a source of pride as a club and for him, because he deserves it. “He is happy, calm, excited and wanting to make the most of it.”

“He is a very complete player, who helps the team in many facets on the court,” says Jimeno, who was his coach last season. “On an offensive level he stands out for his shooting. He is very competitive,” he adds. His numbers support it, in the EBA League he has an average of 15’2 points and 25’6 minutes per game. In just his second season at Joventut, which he combines with CB Prat – a team linked to the Badaloneses -, he has already won everything: in his first year he was champion of Spain and Catalonia.

He has not needed any more time to become a team leader on and off the hardwood. “The game falls on him,” his coach insists. The forward handles his weight within the locker room “with a lot of education and responsibility.” “Off the track he is laughing, teaming up and working together. He is one of our best profiles,” says the head of the quarry. And the explanation is his parents: “He is a very well-educated boy, who plays with his feet on the ground. His family does a spectacular job,” says Jimeno. And he adds: “I will be very happy personally for everything good that can happen to Iker.”

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Nobody sees where Garmendia’s roof is. His progression has led him to be called up by Carles Durán’s first team and the club’s intention is for him to join the seniors permanently “in one or two years.” “That’s why we renewed it until 2028. We detected the talented profiles very well and with him we were very clear,” explains Jimeno. Despite having only been in the entity for two seasons, the forward is not a new figure for the club, which has followed him since he was little. Before arriving, Iker Garmendia went through the training categories of FC Barcelona, ​​where he left because they demanded exclusivity. “He and his family decided to leave Can Barça because for them studies are a priority.” And there Penya took the opportunity to get him.

Basketball player in the afternoon, second-year high school student in the mornings. His is the routine of an extroverted boy, with an interest in science, who dedicates himself to sports. “As a team we adapt to their schedules,” says Aparicio. “Sometimes he only has to drive home to rest,” his coach reveals.

Raised in Gavà – a town 20 kilometers from Barcelona – between studies and training he still has time to watch basketball games. “A reflection of how organized and serious he is,” according to Aparicio. “Before training we always comment on games and you can see that he has followed many of them,” adds his coach. He also spends weekends at the Badalona Olympic Pavilion. “He always finds a way to come watch the first team games with his teammates and hang out,” says the youth coach.

This is not the first time that Joventut de Badalona has been represented in the NBA All Star, they already had it, for example, with Joel Parra, current Barcelona player. The secret, a mixture of several factors: “A great selection of talent, added to a great job by the sports management and Carles Durán in the first team,” says Jimeno. And a motto: “We are called Joventut Badalona, ​​we want to play with our players that we are developing,” claims the head of the quarry. And he adds: “It’s what makes us special.”

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2024-02-17 04:15:00
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