Tokyo 2020: why Luis Scola, the most important player in the history of Argentine basketball, will continue to play

Mauricio Codocea

08/03/2021 11:22

• Clarín.com

• sports

• Basketball

Updated 08/03/2021 11:47

"I always try to get away from these situations. It's a low blow. I don't really know what to say. It's over and that's it. I'm a bit emotionally beaten. We are all experiencing a very special situation. Having seen the rivals, journalists and referees hit me. A little. It all fell apart. I tried to maintain my composure as much as I could.

But I leave in peace. It

was what I wanted to do: get to the last minute by working my way, on my terms, and I was able to do it. I'm going in peace. The National Team is much more than names. I gave it my maximum commitment, effort and the best years of my career, and the worst as well. "

Luis Scola told Clarín, in the first interview that led to this, his last tournament with the Argentine jersey, that he would not give the final match an importance that he did not consider it had. "You don't need the epic ending for your career to be bad or good.

What will be said about me will be what I was able to do, consistently, over 20 years

."

That word is fair.

Consistency.

Scola

completed a life for herself playing for Argentina

.

Since that time, in 1992, in a tournament in San Juan, Puerto Rico, he put on a light blue and white jersey playing with a Federal Capital team that represented the "country."

That time he injured his knee, came out almost in a cast, his coach called his parents, Mario and Alicia.

It was the beginning of a romance that would seem eternal, but which, like everything, was not and is not.

The emotion of Scola, embraced by Facundo Campazzo.

AP Photo / Eric Gay

Scola will no longer play in the National Team,

although it seems strange, improper, to say so.

Although the phrase is somewhat false.

Why Scola

he will continue to play

every time a Gabriel Deck falls to the ground

looking for a ball in a game that Argentina wins or loses by 15 or 20 points with a couple of minutes to go.

Scola will continue to play on computers, tablets or even the applications that the members of the technical staff have thanks to him, who historically after the tournaments worried about doing a little investigative work to go shopping,

looking for what they needed to work better

and , in short,

recognize

them for having "broken their balls" for a month or two weeks.

Scola will continue to play

in the planning of the tours

, because even in the latter he fought with the leaders trying to find the best possible preparation.

Luis Scola in one of his most iconic photos: celebrating the triumph against the NBA at the 2004 Athens Olympic Games. AFP Photo

Scola will continue to play

whenever a player tries to improve on something already great

.

Because he learned in the United States that the triple was what was expected in basketball and he began to train, in silence, in 2011, almost six years before starting to throw them in front of the public, when he finally felt prepared and with the technique polished. 

Scola will continue to play every time a Facundo Campazzo radically

changes his habits, becomes a better and more comprehensive player and ends up (or not, because that does not define him) reaching the NBA.

Because he was the base today and the one who will continue to lead the team on the field who, in 2013, at the World Cup in Caracas, received from

Luifa

the phrase: "You follow me, eat what I eat, do what I do It's not going to be easy, you are going to see many drinking Coca Cola, but you are going to see that you are going to end up being the best point guard in the tournament. " Both were part of the Ideal Quintet of that contest that qualified the National Team for the 2014 World Cup.

Scola will continue playing every time a Nicolás Laprovittola

raises his voice to fight against what he considers an injustice

, every time he expresses a disagreement with a leadership, with a preparation, with a healthy debate with the coaching staff.

Because Argentine basketball saw him do it,

changing history off the court so that it can change on the court.

Because Scola, who did not have the obligation to do so, after noticing the very serious economic problems that the mother entity had,

reached the top of the political spheres

to rescue an Argentine Basketball Confederation sunk in debt.

That move that he led ended with the president of that time being prosecuted by the Justice for "unfaithful administration."

Scola gives himself to the ovation of all those present at the Saitama Stadium.

AP Photo / Eric Gay

Scola will continue to play

whenever an injured player decides to stay with the team.

Because Scola, who was never absent except in 2005 (when Argentina had automatically qualified for the 2006 World Cup as Olympic champion), remained with his teammates when an injury left him out of the AmeriCup 2017. And that marked him.

Him and this group.

They convinced each other that they could.

And they were

runners-up in the world

, taking off the Golden Generation backpack.

The same that Scola integrated, for which he is one

of the 12 men on Earth with the gold medal that the NBA does not have.

Scola will continue playing

whenever an athlete does not allow himself to be defeated by an injury and fights it to continue playing.

Because the sports life of the power forward had an expiration date 10 years ago, when several doctors told him that he would not give him to play for more than one or two seasons shortly before the 2011 Mar del Plata Pre-Olympic. There he changed radically, he modified his diet , his training and deepened what he had already started a few years ago: the exhaustive study of methodologies to extend its useful life.

Scola will continue playing

every time an Argentine athlete receives a pat of encouragement

in an Olympic Village, in a Pan American Village or in any corner of any club in the country.

Because that's what he did when he changed his head to a Sebastian Crismanich at that time unknown who would end up winning the gold in London 2012.

Have no doubts.

Scola retires, but will continue to play.

Although he is no longer seen on a court.

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Tokyo 2020: the illusion of basketball is over, which was crushed by Australia and will not be able to fight for a medal