“I spent my youth watching Athens at the Cerutti sports center. It was unimaginable that we would now face him in a conference final in the Argentine League,” he tells The voice Andrés Poi, the Sportivo Suardi coach. The Santa Fe team will face, starting this Saturday, the Verde from General Bustos neighborhood in the final series of the Northern Conference of the promotion category of national basketball. From the stands to the substitutes’ bench.
“As a basketball fan, I spent the years in Córdoba watching the best teams in Atenas,” adds “el Zurdo,” as everyone knows him in Suardi, the town 20 kilometers away from Morteros. Because he came to study Agronomy in Córdoba and going to Cerutti was one of the great attractions of his university days. “I spent six years in Córdoba and I tell you that I didn’t graduate,” he confesses.
During the week he studied in Córdoba, watched the games at Cerutti and returned to his town on weekends to play basketball with the shirt of “his” Sportivo Suardi in the Morterense League. They say that he was a “seasoned” player, as is his team now in the Argentine League.
In Córdoba there was another citizen from Suardi, who was part of the Atenas youth team and made his debut in the National League, Andrés Ricardo Pelussi. Poi and “el Gringo” Pelussi shared the training divisions at Sportivo Suardi. At the end of 1994 their paths separated. Pelussi came to the General Bustos neighborhood to start his career at Verde, while Poi, in addition to playing, over time, began to take a liking to a coaching career.
It started with the youngest members of the club, until 2013 when it started with the Primera, until reaching the Argentine League. And to face Athens.
“There was Marcelo (Milanesio), Pichi (Campana), that great team from Atenas. And ‘el Gringo’ (Pelussi), who was juvenile. We were such fans of basketball and the National League that with the group that went to the court one time we went to Bahía Blanca to watch Atenas against Estudiantes and we saw ‘Manu’ Ginobili play,” Poi remembers.
From the stands to the field
As Athens, Suardi is playing his first season in the Argentine League, although coming from the Federal League. Sportivo finished fourth in the regular phase, with a record of 19 wins and 11 losses, and beat GEPU de San Luis 3-0 in the quarterfinals and Barrio Parque 3-0 in the semifinals. Starting on Saturday, at 8:30 p.m., they will face Athens for a place in the final for promotion to the National League.
“We still haven’t fully realized that we are in this instance and against this rival. Atenas is the top candidate for promotion and the most successful in the history of the National League,” remarked Poi, born in Suardi on November 1, 1978. “There is a lot of expectation, we will try to play, to compete, to get the most out of it. in the series,” added the coach. His father Oscar was president of the club.
–What do you highlight about Athens?
–It is a team with a lot of experience, has hierarchy and has prepared for this. Atenas grew as the competition progressed, it is in a good moment, it is in the moment to show what it is for.
–How do Sportivo Suardi get to the final series?
–Very good, with good rhythm, with high self-esteem. With a streak of results and performance, with important solidity and physically with all the players in good shape. With expectations of what is to come.
–They won their two series playoffs 3-0, which shows that they are at a great level.
–We were able to be very aggressive with the defense to take advantage of moments of good rhythm. Our bastion is defense.
–How was the start of the season? Did they plan, was it planned to reach decisive levels?
-We didn’t even imagine it. Our idea was to compete, adapt to the category, see if we could play as equals. Knowing that we could achieve performance, the issue was results. We highly exceeded our expectation. It was a dream out there, but the expectations were not to reach the final of the Northern Conference.
–It was important to maintain the base of the team…
–The base is everything. We bet on the base, on a team playing together for a long time because it speeds up work times. And, when it comes to incorporating players, we look for them to be players who can grow.
