Jorge, the father of Sergio de Larrea (Valladolid, 19 years old), says that he and his mother, Nuria Asenjo, come from a “prehistoric” basketball background. The man, who is 55 years old and works as an engineer at FASA-Renault, in Valladolid, and his wife, who is a personal trainer, enjoyed university basketball in their youth that pitted them against teams from all over Spain. He played for CDU (Club Deportivo Universitario) and she played for UVa (University of Valladolid). “We are not very big but they made us both play inside,” he says before recalling that each season he faced a team whose base was Chechu Mulero, the man who, already in his time as sports director of Valencia Basket , managed to win over Sergio, one of the most promising players, and with the most suitors, in Spanish basketball.
De Larrea, who in addition to his last name, inherited his father’s nickname, Larry, is already established in the first Valencia team led by Pedro Martínez, the coach who protects him by prohibiting him from giving interviews and prohibiting himself from talking about his star project. .
About the kid, unlike his parents, everyone says that he is very big even though he is 1.98m tall, nothing special in basketball, but certainly for a point guard. Larry has broken the mold: Spain has never had a game director of this size. For this reason, and for his talent, he attracts a lot of attention every time Pedro Martínez gives him a chance. Although it is not a discovery: Sergio Scariolo already called him in the summer to help with the selection before the Paris Games.
Larry is in Valencia because Chechu Mulero – current sports director of the Slovenian Cedevita Olimpija – was the one who best convinced the boy and his parents, who picked up the phone every week to listen to offers from American universities and teams from all over Spain. “We had quite a few offers, but it just so happened that Chechu was in Valencia, he explained to us the plan he had for him and it was the one we liked the most. “Sergio is a good student and it was a very appropriate modality,” remembers Jorge de Larrea. Chechu did not push too hard. He only gave him a physical trainer, Samuel Román, and let him continue playing at his school, San Agustín, in Valladolid. “I met him in kindergarten and it was not even necessary to sign an agreement with the parents. It was an unspoken thing,” Mulero remembers.
Sergio lasted until his second year as a cadet. There he decided to make the leap to Valencia. He matured quickly and did not stray in his new city. Now his father is surprised when asked if he lives alone: “Of course, Sergio is older now.” The young man defends himself well at home. “He really likes to cook and has a very good hand, to be honest.” He does not elaborate much further in praise and only adds that he is a voracious reader and that he studies Biomedical Engineering. “He’s a normal boy.”
The commitment to stay at home was not unwise. Larry is a very complete player despite his height and youth. The San Agustín coaches did a good job with this Spartan, as the players from this school are known. “Each school chose a kind of mascot and this one is not bad: here they play outdoors and that, in Valladolid, in winter, is not anything,” jokes his father, who has another younger son, Marco, who also plays. to basketball.
Sergio Scariolo says that he fights an internal struggle when asked about this young talent. “I have to express the optimism that I honestly feel, because I have a lot of faith in him, but I don’t want to make the mistake of thinking that he is already a star or that we have to demand it from him now. There is still a lot of work, breaking stones, not listening to those who tell him that he is already a phenomenon… But I am confident that we are facing a great player who can really be very important in international basketball.”
The national coach also caught the attention, like everyone else, the first time he saw him. “It is a very high quality project. He meets almost unique conditions, and not only among Spanish players but also European players. He is a player with intelligence, ambitious but humble, quite self-demanding, sometimes too demanding, but it is more of a quality than the few times it becomes a problem. And of course he has technical skills in game vision, shooting, and passing, which are truly unique. Defensively he has the advantage of size, which allows him to control smaller players without having to get too close, but the point of improvement is of course being able to put constant pressure on smaller players without them leaving him. Or when small players pressure him very aggressively.”
One of the few tall point guards in Spain also played in Valencia. Nacho Rodilla is 1.93 meters tall and, as a television analyst, he watches all of Sergio de Larrea’s games. The Valencian has also fallen at his feet. “At first, being so big, I thought he would suffer defending smaller guards, but he is very smart and knows how to be at the right distance and stick out his arm if they are going to throw. It strikes me that he is a kid who has the instinct to know what to do at all times; He plays with consistency and makes few mistakes. Think like a point guard. There are no kids that age who understand all the concepts, and on top of that he has the advantage of his stride, which is lethal.”