Chile looks for continued growth at U18 South America Men’s Championships

 MIAMI (United States) – With the FIBA U18 South American Men's Championship on the horizon from March 21 to 26 at the José Joaquín "Papa" Carrillo Gymnasium in Caracas, Venezuela - Chile, guided by senior team head coach, Cristian Santander, is preparing for the upcoming continental tournament and in search of a place in the Pre-World Cup of the Americas with his latest roster announcement.

A list of 16- players have been called and will meet in Purranque to begin training for the first time since mid-December, combining training days and friendly games.

 

“The process with these players began in July 2021 because the FIBA U17 South American tournament initially was going to play during that year,” Santander said. “At that time, we could not train normally due to the pandemic, but in July we were able to train with some to the extent that the health situation allowed us.”

Before his arrival in Chile, the Argentine coach won a championship with the women of Club Sampaio, in Brazil. Previously, he led the Argentine women's national team to a win in the 2014 edition of the Odesur Games, achieved bronze in the 2015 Pre-Olympic Games and silver in the 2017 AmeriCup. His tenure closed with the Adult South American Championship in Tunja, Colombia, in 2018.

“Coaching a national team is something very emotional for me. Since I arrived in Chile in 2007, I have created a very strong bond with this country. I consider myself very much at home here. I have great memories with the country and I am very grateful for the opportunity extended to me.”

The competitions in Chile after the pandemic returned in September, which is why the coaching staff decided that training for the U18’s would be divided into five stages in order to reach the South American Championship in the best condition.

 

“We are currently working with 18 players, but we have evaluated about 50 players. This generation is paying the price of a year and a half that could not be played due to the pandemic. The return was very hard, there was a curfew in Chile and restrictions that did not allow us to leave some regions, which were in total quarantine.”

The Chilean squad has another great challenge facing continental competitions, that of playing catch up due to recent years of not playing in tournaments and training due to the pandemic.

“We estimate that it will take us two years to return to the path of normality and proper sporting condition of our players. For us it is a time of restructuring and in the last few months we have played much more than we have practiced and that is not good either.”

Regarding the Chilean senior men’s team, which is preparing to face the second qualifying phase for the 2023 World Cup on February 25 and 28, against Uruguay and Colombia at the Antonio Azurmendy Coliseum in Valdivia, Santander acknowledges the difficulty against other teams, but he fully trusts the work and chemistry of his squad and giving the younger players a shot to prepare them for the near future.

“In the Senior National Team, we have several players playing abroad which is a god thing. One of our goals is that we plan to be able to reach the 2023 Pan American Games in Santiago (Chile). We want to lay the foundation in training and improve as we try to close the gap against the powerful countries on the continent. We want to grow the program across all age groups. That is one of the objectives of this federation. I join in trying to make national basketball grow.”

FIBA