Aragonese basketball will meet this Sunday to celebrate one of the great players. At least one of those who generated the most love, respect and sympathy in his 14 seasons in the CBZ first team: Jose Luis Rubio Costa. His club pays tribute to him where he spent the most time in a basketball, CDMMudéjar, which brought a good number of his teammates all the years, to fight with the Tercera FEB team. “It was a big surprise, I didn’t expect it, when they told me I was excited. There’s a lot of secrecy about who she’ll be with, but it’s all about having fun.», said Rubio.
In fact, to say that José Luis Rubio has left basketball is not true. He is no longer a member of the CBZ first team and that is why they paid tribute to him, but his connection to basketball and the club is the past, present and future. “I started at CBZ school when I was three years old and, since then, I have not missed a competition, a regional team, until the age of 39, made 21 consecutive seasons as a senior and most of them in CBZ. I was only at the Stadium for two years and five at El Olivar. It’s a way of life,” Rubio summarized.
Because of this, in a club where Arcega, Angulo, Magee, Davis and Belostenny play, he is the one who defended the first team shirt the most. “I’ve been at all levels with the club and they’ve also respected my injuries. That’s why I told them, they made a lot of jokes but the numbers are there,” he joked.
Although he did not reach the highest level as a player, he always took it seriously, in a professional manner and, above all, respectful to the team and his teammates. “Every moment requires dedication, I don’t call it effort because it comes naturally to me. Until the last day I was very happy, for me it is not a sacrifice but a proportion of the responsibilities that one has. I always like to take it seriously and not miss any training, accepting it with great commitment to the team,” he explained. “My best friends are the group I started in CBZ in 1997, saying this everything,” he added.
Now, other commitments required him and so he decided not to continue with the team. “There came a time when, although physically I could have progressed, family commitments with two young children and a more demanding job helped me make the decision that something was coming that time I neglected some of the obligations and I don’t want to leave the family in order not to miss a game or, on the contrary, to be at home with my children while ten teammates coolly train and then show up for the game.», he reasoned.
But José Luis Rubio, basketball and CBZ, are inseparable terms. “I went to all the games, of course, but also some training and I I was excited for CBZ to win because my father would catch me and when I was 8, 9, 10 years old he would take me to shake hands with the players in the locker room. Also, CBZ has always tried to be a family-friendly club with people from home and even the Americans, who let them join everything, they came home because my parents wanted them to feel comfortable. I’ve had that relationship with the player and professional basketball since I was little and I’m very lucky,” he said.
And his father, the founder of CBZ, ACB, ULEB, passed the “poison” to him as he said and passed the baton to him. “Since I was born I have been playing basketball on the side of my father, who is known, but also on the side of my mother and uncle, who are players, and from my brothers who have played. Then I got complicated and married a former basketball player, so it was impossible to get out of there,” he joked.
When he decided to retire, his father appointed him vice president of the club, so now he has the responsibility of acquiring and continuing that legacy. “I learned from him because he is an example of how to do things well, to be in demand regardless of the category.. He treated the team as if they were not in the ACB but in the NBA, he demanded that we look like professionals and I think that is part of his success. I am also well surrounded because the club has two people like Toño Martín and Carlos Bastida who are there every day and are the ones who do this job. We are very excited to try to evolve and change categories to differentiate ourselves and get out of the comfort zone. We need to find another motivation for the club and that’s what I’m working on now,” he explained.
But CBZ and the Rubio saga are not only past and present, but also future. «Now there is a very exciting motivation in the family because the two little children have started to play and their first games are very exciting. It’s really exciting to be able to share it with them and I’m lucky that they see me play and I get to play with them. Even if one is very tired, When someone tells me dad, it’s a game, I put on my sneakers and we go down wherever we have to“, said. On Sunday you will not miss the tribute. “Maybe someone will change and start shooting so they can see that there is a Rubio out there still fighting.” There is no doubt about that.