From Luifa to Tomás: 27 years later, another Scola began his career in the Argentine basketball team

In October 1995, louis school he became champion of the South American Cadet Championship which was held in Arequipa. He thus obtained his first title with the Argentina national team. Twenty-seven years later, his eldest son, Thomas, dressed the Albiceleste house for the first time: he made his debut this Wednesday with the team led by Martín Villagrán in the South American Under 15 tournament which takes place in Buenos Aires. From one of the stands of the Temple of Rock of the Obras Sanitarias club, he was observed not only by his father, but also by the former national team coach Sergio Hernández.

With the number four shirt, the same one he wore he doesTomás spent 22 minutes on the court during which he added 11 points (3-of-5 on two-point shooting, 1-of-3 on 3-point shooting and 2-of-6 free throws), 5 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 steal and 1 block. in comfortable victory 111-43 against Bolivia.

The striker, born on 17 April 2007 in Vitoria (when his father played for Tau Cerámica), is left-handed and measures 2 meters, had already been selected this year in the under 17 category, giving him a two-year advantage, but in the end Leonardo Gutiérrez had not included him in the squad of 12 players who attended the World Cup which took place in Malaga in July.

Tomás is a player of the Pallacanestro Varese Academy, the Italian club where his father retired in 2021 and where he currently holds the position of general manager. Though he tried soccer and ice hockey when the Scolas lived in Toronto (Luis played for the Raptors), he ended up leaning towards basketball, a sport he started playing at the age of six. .

With this debut in the Copa Sudamericana, Tomás becomes the representative of the third generation of the Scola family to wear the national team jersey: not only his father (he played 173 matches and 22 tournaments), but also his grandfather Mario, who was South American runner-up junior in 1975 and represented the major in the late 1970s and early 1980s.

For the young Scola the debut was calm, given that Argentina comfortably overcame the Bolivian team at the start of the South American in a duel in which the 12 members of the team scored points and six of them closed in double offensive figure. The second presentation will be this Thursday at 20:00 against Ecuador.

In the team led by Matías Villagrán, Tomás Scola is not the only heir to a player with a past in the national team: one of his teammates is Matías Dominé, son of Eduardo Dominé of the cliff, relentless shooter who participated in the 1994 World Cup in Canada there are two other boys whose parents had a brilliant career in the National League: Gino Ciorciari, son of Diego (played for Obras, Quilmes, Ciclista Juninense and Quimsa); and Felipe Minzer, son of Héctor (champion with the GEPU of San Luis in 1993).