TRENTO-The month of June has another incoming operation in store for the Itas Trentino men’s European Champion team. With the aim of significantly strengthening the battery of high ball attackers, the yellow and blue Club has in fact finalized the two-year engagement of the Puerto Rican opposite Gabriel “Gabi” Garcia Fernandez.
The twenty-five year old hammer native of San Juan (Carolina) but with a US passport will be the alternative to Kamil Rychlicki in a squad built to be even more competitive and of a high level. Gabi Garcia is an athlete with great physical and technical qualities, who knows the top Italian championship well having played there in the last three seasons, first with Civitanova and then with Padova. With the Cucine Lube shirt he immediately won the Scudetto in 2022, highlighting his signature with 240 personal points, 28 of these directly in the serve, fundamental among the most interesting in his repertoire. Even in subsequent years he was able to offer an important contribution and in particular in the last one he was among the protagonists of the salvation of the historic Paduan Club. Before arriving in Italy he had played in the American NCAA fields, becoming the best player in the 2020-2021 season when he defended the colors of Brigham Young University. He wore the shirt of the Puerto Rican national team between 2019 and 2022, winning the Norceca Championship in 2021 before changing Federation and becoming a United States player since last March, with whom he has already made his debut in the ongoing 2024 VNL. In Trento he will wear the number 10 shirt, which in the past had already been used by two other players in his position such as the Slovakian Chocholak and the Italian Pinali. He is the first Puerto Rican in the history of Trentino Volley, the fourth athlete from the US national team to wear the yellow-blue shirt after Millar, Suxho and Russell.
The words of Gabi Garcia-
“It’s great to be part of a Club with a great tradition like Trentino Volley; wearing the yellow and blue jersey will be one of the most important challenges of my career, I consider it a decisive turning point. As an opponent in the last three seasons I have been able to appreciate the quality, the competitiveness and the atmosphere that you breathe in this prestigious Club. I come to Trento to offer tranquility and confidence; together with Rychlicki we will form a high-level opposite pair, which will guarantee the team many points and the security of always having a player of that role on the court suited to its ambitions. I know well what kind of role I will have within the team and I am happy to cover it because we will be engaged on several fronts, always and only with the goal of winning.”
The words of the coach Fabio Soli-
« Gabi Garcia is an opposite of great qualities; further confirming this is the fact that he is still working with the US national team. In the Italian championship he demonstrated his worth on several occasions and after the season spent in Padua he strongly wanted to come to Trento. This pleases us immensely, because it gives the idea of a player who wants to grow and be part of a group that makes work culture one of its great values. I am convinced that he will be able to offer us a notable contribution and experience a year full of satisfactions. From a technical point of view he has two really important fundamentals such as attack and serve; he showed them off both in Civitanova and Padua, even in delicate moments of decisive matches.”
