Sanatura 102 Escazu 62

Saturday night we went up against my old team Escazu. It was an effortless win against an overmatched squad. Escazu is making a go of it this year with a very young squad and a couple of veterans, but they just don't have the firepower to butt heads with the stronger teams. We won by 40 points, and to be honest we didn't play that well, particularly in the first half. Our bench had a strong showing in the second half which let us play everyone  some minutes.

A lot has been said about my departure from Escazu, but a lot of it is noise. I had been with the program for five years, taking it from an eighth place finish to two second place finishes (one as head coach, the second as the GM). As it became evident that categorization was going to be eliminated for 2012, the writing was on the wall that to take on super champ Barva, you needed to build some sort of alliance to be able to compete. The league "experts" think I had my move to Sanatura devised back in October, but I didn't make a final decision until January.

Coaching in Escazu was very convenient; the gym is five minutes from my house and helps in all sorts of ways. Plus coaching in your hometown puts some spring in your step; my family has lived in Escazu for nearly 30 years. It was also helpful that over the past years, faces become familiar and you know what to expect around the gym. However, there were other administrative factors that made a stay in Escazu tough: the way things are set up, it's a challenge to build an alliance in Escazu.

Game Notes

• This was a homecoming game for Michael, Memo, Jaythiev and myself. I guess we could include Carlos in that group, though he didn't play with Escazu last year. It was a light crowd, and thankfully Michael was not booed, which we were kind of expecting. 
• Escazu is using a reinforced version of their Juegos Nacionales team. Those kids are taking their lumps, but some of them are going to be pretty good. I'm sure the experience will come in handy in the next Juegos Nacionales, where they finished second this past season.
• One of my former players, Diego Loria, is leading the league in scoring. He was with me for the better part of the last five years. I know he'd rather win than be the big scorer, but he's proving he can score in this league.