As happens every week at the HSBC Arena, Flamengo's basketball players swapped hands for feet this Tuesday and played a fun game before physical training led by trainer Rafael Bernardelli. While skill was lacking, there was plenty of laughter, bizarre plays, and even goals in the yellow team's 7-4 victory over the white team, led by captain Marcelinho.

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In the end, after much teasing, the winning team of Dedé, Hélio, Duda, Wagner and Coloneze posed for the lenses of team director Arnaldo Szpiro.

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"I agreed with them that every Tuesday our warm-up would be a soccer match. Besides breaking up the traditional physical training routine, the game serves to loosen up the atmosphere. Since the teams are always chosen by Marcelinho and Duda, there's already a healthy rivalry that brings the team even closer together," explained the club's physical trainer, Rafael Bernardelli.

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Although the fatigue was evident during the games against Pinheiros and Paulistano in the capital of São Paulo, on Friday and Sunday, respectively, Rafael guarantees that the team's physical preparation continues to evolve in accordance with the coaching staff's planning.

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"This wear and tear is natural due to all the injury problems the team has been facing since the beginning of the season. We lost several players throughout the season, and that's why Chupeta and João have been practically unable to rotate starters on the court during games. Sometimes, some even play the full 40 minutes of two consecutive matches, as happened with Marcelinho over the weekend. Even so, the team is responding well to post-match training, and we'll continue to improve physically until the playoffs," assured Rafael, who attributes the team's good physical performance to the mini-preseason held during Carnival.