When the players of the women’s national team climbed to the AmeriCup podium on Saturday night, they in turn advanced another step towards the basketball elite.
The silver medal in the tournament that ran through Sunday at the Roberto Clemente Coliseum is another way to measure the continued growth of the team and the players in recent years.
“We have made a big change in growth in general terms,” said squad leader Gerry Batista.
This growth of the National Team has been occurring since the last Olympic cycle and has been accentuated in this cycle in which they qualified for their first World Cup, their first Olympiad; that they revalidated as champions of Central America and the Caribbean, and that they have defeated American powers such as Brazil and Canada.
The silver medal was his first in the AmeriCup. Batista clarified that this does not necessarily mean that the National Team is the second best team on the continent, but added that it does mean that they have continued to advance towards that position.
At the very least, the National Team earned respect in America, said Batista.
The coach affirmed that the National Team has earned the reputation of being the team capable of beating the best on any particular night.
That fame is another continuous growth meter.
“We have acquired the culture that if you are going to face Puerto Rico you have to do it hard, without underestimating, because otherwise you can lose,” said Batista.
“And that’s good because it gives the show respect.”
Another way to measure the growth of the National Team is the commitment of the players. Batista revealed that Jazmon Gwathmey played the AmeriCup with a broken finger. It was already known of injuries in players who also saw action, such as the captain Pamela Pink e Isalys Quinones, among other.
Batista added that as a program they have taken measures to maintain the ascent and recognized that pressures will come applied due to the success obtained so far.
“The bar will rise with success,” he said.
As an example of measures taken, he crashed against the best teams in the world. The blank that the National Team made two weeks ago in Europe against powers like Belgium proved to be of benefit in the AmeriCup.
“It helped us to achieve this result. We adjust in defense and offense ”, he pointed out.
He said that other measures are to continue looking for and developing female players, especially to face the elite of women’s basketball. He acknowledged that the task of finding height is difficult, because that physical characteristic is not developed.
He also said that a useful measure for growth was convincing female players from the national program to participate in the National Superior Basketball. Players like Isalys Quinones, Sabrina lozada Y Jacqueline Benitez they signed up to play in the tournament. The experience of these players in the league not only helps them personally, it raises the level of play for the benefit of others.
The basketball elite is in America with the United States, in Europe with Belgium, Spain, Serbia; in Oceania with Australia, among other quintets.
To get there, Batista said there is still a lot of work and more patience to do.
“To become World Cup players we need a lot of work, especially because perhaps we have players, but we need bigger players,” he said.
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