On Monday afternoon (23), FlaBasquete was training for the match against Bauru for the Novo Basquete Brasil, at the Tijuca Tênis Clube gym, when Flamengo's Olympic athletes, Daniele Hypólito, Flavia Saraiva and Rebeca Andrade, surprised their club colleagues with a visit. The idea came about after the girls were returning from a Flamengo institutional event in the same van that would have to pick up the boys after practice at Tijuca. Taking advantage of the fact that they already knew physiotherapist Ricardo Machado, who accompanied them at the Brazilian Gymnastics Championship in 2016, and captain Marcelinho, Dani's teammate at Estácio (both are ambassadors for the club's sponsoring company), the gymnasts surprised the players, showed up at the gym and even kicked a ball around.

 

"(...) Yesterday the gymnastics girls came to our practice to give us some support and took the opportunity to practice a little basketball. They did pretty well, the problem is that now we're going to return the visit and I'm already worried about what will happen to us on the balance beam, floor exercise, etc.", wrote Marcelinho on his social media profile, along with a photo of him and point guard Ricardo Fischer with Dani, Flavinha and Rebeca.

 

"Their season is very important. They can't mess around during competitions. Gymnastics is practiced in a completely different environment from theirs, with mats and foam, jumps and movements that demand a lot physically. We can't risk them for the sake of a joke. But as soon as their season is over, the challenge is on. I want to see FlaBasquete doing gymnastics," Dani exclaimed, laughing, when talking about the post.

 

Flamengo faces Bauru in the NBB9 this Tuesday (24), at 19:30 pm, at the Tijuca Tênis Clube gym. The match will be broadcast on SporTV2 and the Pride of the Nation plays to defend the leadership of the competition.