El Salvador's basketball's in constant expansion

SAN SALVADOR (El Salvador) — In recent years basketball has positioned itself as one of the most popular sports practiced by the Salvadorian community, and without a doubt, it’s gained a greater national and international projection. The decentralization of basketball in the capital has been one of the objectives since the beginnings of the Salvadorian Basketball Federation (FESABAL, for its Spanish acronym).

The Federation has been doing hard work to meet one of its main objectives, popularizing basketball. It’s a difficult task, but it’s possible thanks to the constant support of the FESABAL directives, the local government, private sponsors and the passionate players of the basket sport.

Up until some time ago, professional basketball concentrated in the capital city of San Salvador. However, there were many municipalities in the nation that also had an excellent level but didn't have as much support nor investment of the local government and sponsors. Many of the talents within the municipalities had to leave their native towns to fully develop their basketball career and be a part of the capital’s professional basketball. At the time, basketball wasn't a financially viable option to live and work solely as an athlete and, although there were teams from other municipalities in the federative leagues, they represented a small percentage.

In 2015, with the establishment of a professional league called Liga Mayor — or Major League — (LMB, for its Spanish acronym), basketball began its national expansion, including teams of other cities and with home and away games. FESABAL's goal, under the presidency of Yamil Bukele since 2012, was one and clear: to take a basketball and its entire showcase to the entire nation in order to motivate people to practice the sport and to have the national team players play friendly games.

“When basketball was centralized players were exclusively amateurs. With the establishment of the LMB, there already players that are professionalizing and that thanks to basketball can finance their college career. The entire basketball community's economy has been benefited, because there's now a need to hire more staff, more referees, more coaches, assistants, medical staff and press,” said to FIBA.basketball Rodolfo Mena, FESABAL Manager.

“With the President, we've visited more than 30 municipalities to invite them to what was the new LMB. We also invited the existing sub-federations — there are 8 in the nation — for them to come and join us in a planned effort in basketball schools; they already had it in their municipality, but this helped them improve the program they were using,” stated Mena.

The sub-federations in El Salvador are small organisms that oversee the development of basketball in each municipality and are in charge of hosting a school of basketball initiation. In the Central American country, there are 10 sub-federations and 11 schools; one for each municipality and the one in San Salvador.

“It’s important to highlight the work done by the sub-federations, because it's them that notify the federative league teams, but above all to the federation's technical staff, about emerging talents,” added Mena, who also stated: “After the arrival of Sports Coordinator Ray Santana, we've done scouting tours outside of San Salvador, in four cities (Santa Ana, Sonsonate, La Unión, and San Miguel) that are key to seek new talents for the U14 and U16 national teams. Like this our national teams are also expanding and we're looking for talents in each of the nation’s corners. Now we have representatives from different municipalities.”

Taking the show to the different areas has been another one of FESABAL’s great projects. This gives local basketball many benefits for its development, expansion, promotion, and coverage. An example of this is one of the most accurate initiatives: taking the LMB All-Star Game outside of the capital, to the western city of Izalco and the northern city of Quezaltepeque.

 
The popularization of basketball in El Salvador has allowed for the sport to be practiced in stadiums full of fans, with competitive games and an important roster of players from the whole country that are willing to portray their talent to be a part of the national teams and get to play in international tournaments.

“The municipalities and teams that are part of the LMB have gained awareness that there’s an interest among young people of practice basketball in an orderly fashion and have created schools or training spaces to develop children and young adults of the different municipalities. This has had a positive impact on the youth; keeping them away from negative things and bad influences, thus playing an important role in families because they offer children something useful to do in their spare time,” explained Mena.

“Basketball is a place for opportunities. It opens doors in the professional and working environments, it helps you become a better person, it helps you become responsible, and work in teams and keep your goals really clear. Since I left my city, it wasn’t only a personal achievement, it was also about being an example for young people and show them that it can be done and that you only need to believe. With this expansion that basketball is undergoing in El Salvador, we realize that there are many talents and that it just needs a bit of incentive and confidence,” stated Luis Portal, a native of Nejapa, and a player of Santa Tecla B.C. in the LMB.

Five years have gone by since the birth of the LMB and the Federation continues to work to include other projects; such as the Women’s Major Basketball League (LMBF), the Superior League (LSB) and the creation of player reserves for the LMB.

“In some way, you're happy because you're getting to know new places, and even more so if you're doing something you love. Basketball increases your capacities, even the social-communicational ones because in each place you learn something different. Basketball has evolved. Every day there are more people in this nation that know how and where you can play a bit more professionally and get motivated to build a team, knowing that it's a great opportunity — particularly for young people,” added Michelle Figueroa, an LMBF and Monsignor Romero Municipal League player born in Metapán.

FESABAL aims for these local competitions to be stronger and inclusive in El Salvador, so they can develop and prepare young players that could be the future of the national teams.

“Playing basketball gives you the chance of traveling and getting to know other places, live new experiences. I've lived unforgettable emotions that have marked my game —both joyful and sad. All this has helped me grow as a person and mature more. The municipalities outside of San Salvador have already realized that they have the capacity and that there's talent everywhere,” assured Maru Gálvez, LMBF former player born in Santa Tecla and who’s currently an assistant coach for youth national teams.

 
Another one of the important projects, that allowed for basketball to expand, has been the creation in 2013 of the U23 League (LMMR), where 13 teams with players under the age of 23 play in the capital. This is a growing league that's very competitive and has had the participation of teams of the three zones of El Salvador: the center, the east, and the west.

 
"Personally, it's been a great opportunity to be able to participate at a federal level, because the competition has a higher level and motivates me to play a good role when playing games,” said to FIBA.basketball Juan Melgar, of U23 Club Don Bosco Warriors.

“The development of basketball at a national level has increased and a great part of that is due to the growth of these federal leagues. It’s great that teams from other cities have made the effort to take basketball from their city to San Salvador. There are teams with very good players that make this league very competitive and with a great game level. This allows basketball in our nation to grow and also grants us the opportunity to make us known as players,” added Eduardo Figueroa, another U23 player who also plays in the Monsignor Romero Municipal League.

El Salvador has a population of 6,177,366 inhabitants and 14,658 athletes in its federative leagues. Since 1956 it’s one of the 43 federations affiliated to FIBA and it continues to promote the strength and development of basketball in the 14 departments and 262 municipalities that make up the Central American nation in an attempt to strengthen and getting far with their national teams.

FIBA