Alfred Julbe enters the women’s league at the age of 60 and after a long career in men’s basketball
CUANDO at the beginning of November the Uni Girona of the Women’s League decided by surprise to change coach, the name of the replacement for Eric Suris was not expected either. The Catalan club chose Alfred Julbe (Barcelona, June 6, 1960) whose name is associated with men’s basketball and, specifically, with the ACB League, since even today he is the eighth coach with the most matches directed in the competition, with 542 However, the veteran coach recalled that he already had previous experience in women’s teams, since in 1983 he directed the senior of Sant Josep de Badalona, his birthplace in basketball and from which he gave way to Joventut the following year. In addition, he had already collaborated with Uni Girona in technical tasks, so neither the club that opted for him nor women’s basketball were totally alien to him.
Alfred Julbe has always been considered a particular, brave and unconventional coach. After that first stage in Badalona he went to Girona, where he lived good seasons with the old Casademont. Therefore, if it is already difficult to find coaches who have directed male and female clubs of the highest category, doing so in the same city is highly unlikely and even more so with 27 years of separation between one experience and another. After his time in Girona, he ended up two seasons in Zaragoza and in 1996 he returned to Joventut, a team in which he made his debut at very young Raúl López or Álex Mumbrú, who is now a colleague on the bench.
Cáceres in the 2000-01 season was the last experience in the ACB for a coach who since then has gone through the LEB Plata with Andorra and the LEB Oro with the Barcelona subsidiary, who entrusted him with the training of juniors in his last steps towards the elite as Julbe is considered one of the best in player development. He even had to take the first team bench in a Euroleague game to cover the transition from Sito Alonso to Svetislav Pesic.
The Egypt team and Limoges, where it lasted just 22 games last season, were the last destinations of a coach who perhaps has broken that barrier that seems to exist between men’s and women’s basketball and that prevents coaches from crossing it naturally. In the 90s of the previous century, the remembered Antonio Díaz-Miguel made Pool Getafe champion of the league and Cup and later Carme Lluveras insisted with great will and incomprehension in overthrowing those prejudices and came to lead Aracena in the EBA League and to train part of the Unicaja coaching staff without a defined position when the boss was Sergio Scariolo. Now, the best-known case may be that of Italian Marco Crespi, who led Sevilla and Baskonia in the ACB and is now Sweden’s women’s coach.
For this reason, Alfred Julbe had to admit upon his arrival at Uni Girona that he had to catch up on his knowledge of the Women’s League, although “in the end it is training basketball.” Her goal is “to get the most out of a group of very talented and experienced players.” Uni Girona, which will arrive tomorrow at Maloste (1:00 p.m., Teledeporte) is advancing, for the moment, behind Avenina and Valencia, although the hand of their coach is already noticeable in a very aggressive game in defense and attack, in the that almost any player can raise the ball and initiate fast attacks. Two point guards like Chelsea Gray and Laia Palau will have free rein for their creativity. Because as Alfred Julbe made clear, “the artists are the players and the coaches just have to accompany them.”
“In the end, it’s training basketball,” he said after taking charge of Uni Girona, with whom he will face Lointek Gernika tomorrow in Maloste.
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