Raúl Puigüelo and Carla Fogang are among the best grassroots names in Catalan basketball and are already aiming for the elite after growing up under the protection of the Peña Fragatina Basketball Club
Raúl Puigüelo and Carla Fogang were born in the Bajo/Baix Cinca regionspecifically in Fraga and Mequinenza. And that would be a detail that would not have too much importance, if it were not for the fact that they have managed to include both names on the map of Spanish youth basketball. Both have experienced an atypical start to the year: instead of being at home waiting for the Three Wise Men on the night of January 5, they were concentrated with the Catalan team for the dispute of the Spanish Championship of Regional Teams (Zaragoza, from January 3 to 7, 2026). A scenario in which more than 1,250 male and female players and 76 regional teams have participated, turning the courts of Zaragoza, Utebo, Alfindén and Torres de Berrellén into the epicenter of national grassroots basketball.
Two Bajocinqueños among the best Catalan players
That Raúl and Carla were present at the meeting is not a trivial fact.. They have been selected by Catalonia (Puigüelo plays in Manresa and Fogang competes in Fraga, but in the Catalan league) along with the best of the best from the elite club academies of this community. It is, therefore, the confirmation that the Peña Fragatina Basketball Club (CBPF) knows how to do things very well in its training sports section.
As David Lax, head of the entity, explains, the two are a 100% fragatino project, although he moneyI joined the youth team of a larger club before her. and with presence in the highest category. Lax himself, in statements to the Diario del Bajo Cinca, has recounted the path that both have traveled until reaching the doors that open the path to success.
In the case of Puiguelo, his first steps were at home. Although He packed his bags very young to head to BAXI Manresa and thus play in the highest category that his age allows. He has a long way to go, but Lax has no doubt when it comes to stating that he will reach, at least, up to the categories that are still colloquially known as LEB gold and silver.
In this Spanish Championship of Regional Teams, he has defended the Catalan colors (at school age you play in the selection of your sports license, not by place of birth) adding quality minutes in an authentic equipment. It has been, therefore, an experience that, beyond the results obtained, provides the Fraga player with fundamental learning to continue climbing towards professionalized categories.
From Fraga to the 21st Century
The case of Carla Fogang It has other nuances, but a similar background. This is a practically personal project of the technicians of the Peña Fragatina Basketball Club. And his progression has been more recent, marked by constant growth and a distinctive physique that has required “a lot of work” of adaptation and work. With the CBPF shirt she has reached the interterritorial category with her teammates, confirming that this is the best generation that has passed through the club.
Although at CESA it has had a more secondary role, something logical in an environment where players trained from a very early age in the great Catalan quarries come togetherthe best for her is yet to come: next season she will be on scholarship at the 21st centurythe most prestigious training program and high-performance center for women’s basketball in Catalonia. Located in the Blume Residence, practically all the players who today compete in national teams or in the Endesa Women’s League have passed through this center. To put in context, Aina Ayuso, Queralt Casas, Maite Cazorla, Laura Gil o Vega Gimeno These are just some of those names that one day were in the same program that the Mequinenza player is about to access.
