Other Sports
Basketball was practiced for the first time at the club in the 1920s. In 1924 the institution built a stadium on the corner of 60 and 118 streets. Since that time, it would become one of the major sports in the club.
The basketball team peaked during the 1978 and 1979 campaigns, when it won two Metropolitano championships. In both cases, team prevailed over favorite Obras Sanitarias, Argentina's powerhouse at the time. The team included players such as "Gallego" González, "Finito" Gehrmann, Peinado, as well as some Americans: Michael Jackson, Lawrence Jackson Jr., and the team leader and star, point-guard Clarence Edgar Metcalfe, chosen as the league MVP in 1979. The twice-champions were coached by Rolando Sfeir.
Gimnasia was also runner-up in the 2003-04 Liga Nacional de Básquetbol's Primera División tournament, when it was defeated by Boca Juniors by 4–2 in the final series.
In the following season, the team was relegated to the TNA (Second Division) after president Juan José Muñoz decreased substantially the basketball budget, thereby causing the loss of its principal players.
Some of Gimnasia's notable basketball players were Carlos "Gallego" González, Ernesto "Finito" Gehrmann, Roberto López, Carlos Bejarano and Mariano Cerutti among others. Likewise, club's notable coaches include José Ripullone, Miguel Ángel Ripullone and Gonzalo García.
Gimnasia y Esgrima also has a female volleyball team, who are the only one of the nine founder clubs from the Federación de Voleibol y Pelota al Cesto, still playing volleyball and in the highest division. The federation is current Federación Metropolitana de Voleibol (FMV).
Read more about this topic: Club De Gimnasia Y Esgrima La Plata (sports Club)
Famous quotes containing the word sports:
“Falling in love is the right adventure for those who dislike sports and travel.”
—Mason Cooley (b. 1927)
“Even from their infancy we frame them to the sports of love: their instruction, behaviour, attire, grace, learning and all their words aimeth only at love, respects only affection. Their nurses and their keepers imprint no other thing in them.”
—Michel de Montaigne (1533–1592)