After six days in which two-hundred matches between over seventy teams have been played, the week of the Costa Brava Girona Basket has put an end to a tournament which has made of Girona a focus of basketball’s young international talents. These have been really intense days which the courts of Sarrià, Vilablareix, Sant Gregori, Quart, Salt, Montfalgars, Palau and Fontajau have recieved teams from all around the world holding matches that, even the young ages of the players, have had a great level.
The best example is the U16 final, the last of the games played, which Sa Real have won 64-63 against Apollo Amsterdam beating the buzzer with a wonderful throw. Both teams shared a wonderful match and, in the end, didn’t lose their values. Of course, Sarrià became loud with many teams who had already played their matches coming to see the big final. They started to arrive during the match before, the third and fourth place duel that El Pilar won 59-58 against Ratiopharm Ulm. In Salt, where the U14 final was held, the atmosphere was similar, with teammates from everywhere cheering SESE and Sant Lluís Menorca, who won the match and the tournament 80-73. In the U12 category, Valladolid showed they were a more mature team than their opponents during the three days, and won the final 91-46 against Apollo Amsterdam.
Everything to put an end to a week of the Costa Brava Girona Basket which has had moments of everything, from intense matches to friendships that will longly last, from the joy of some players who met Marc Gasol to the return of an idol in Girona such as Darryl Middleton, now coaching Dubai. Basketball of all heights and, the most important, a spirit and values which must be the base of formative sport.