Mari Cruz Gomez Moreno (Molina de Segura, July 18, 1989) is a nurse in the Murcian Health Service. She has just been named Basketball United Nations Coach of the Year. She hardly has any free time left because she directs the senior women’s team of Molina Basket, the youngest men’s team, she helps in mini-basketball and is the second coach in the Murcian team.
When did sport enter your life?
I started doing rhythmic gymnastics when I was three years old, but I gave it up and got into basketball in 6th grade, at school.
Did you play a long time?
Yes, I was federated throughout my life, while I was studying. I was at ADM, then the women’s went to CB Molina and I left it for a year until the merger came about and Molina Basket was born. So I came back as a player and the following year I became a coach.
Didn’t you like the rhythm?
Yes, I liked it, but I had a spinal deviation and my parents decided that I should change sports, but I liked rhythmic gymnastics and the truth is that I still watch it when I can.
Did you become a coach because you felt that your stage as a player was over?
Actually it was because I finished my Nursing degree and I was out of work. So I got involved as the second coach of a team and the following year they gave me one.
He has taken a liking to the benches.
The truth is that I liked it much more than I expected. My brother always says that at the time he didn’t see me as a coach and I was surprised because I started to like him a lot. Now I get more nervous directing than when I played. The weight of the coach, of the decisions, is different, you have other objectives.
What teams does he coach?
I train the female senior, the youngest male, I help in mini-basketball and I am second coach in the Murcian team.
Do you have time for something?
Well, little, I sleep little. The worst thing is on Monday nights, when training sessions are from ten to eleven thirty, and when I get home I’m in a hurry and I can’t fall asleep early, but otherwise I’m fine.
Why have you been given the UNESCO coach award?
It is an acknowledgment. I didn’t know anything, my sports director proposed me and I found out on January 10 when they told me that they had given me the award. It is a recognition made by the United Nations and the truth is that I am not yet aware of everything, I do not have my feet on the ground, but obviously I am very happy.
What virtues as a coach do you have to have to receive that award?
I really do not know. In the end it is work and perseverance, but it is not that there is anything special about it. In general, all of us coaches who are involved in this give more than we can earn, but it is true that the Molina Basket family is growing in it.
He says he sleeps little, but during the pandemic, because of his work, it must have been worse.
Yes. It is true that I had an injury in 2017 and I decided not to have surgery because I am a nurse and I couldn’t stop. And I just had surgery in January 2020 on the cruciate and that is a long recovery, and the pandemic caught me just when I started walking and I had to stay home. In May I decided to be discharged, it is true that I had a very bad time, I had anxiety because I saw that we nurses were necessary and my colleagues needed me to go to work, but I still could not walk. Also, we didn’t know what we were dealing with and I was tied hand and foot and couldn’t do anything.
You have gone bare-chested.
At first it was crazy and I think that with time everything that has been experienced will be able to be expressed, but right now it is impossible to do so.
Now everything is improving, this last wave has been smoother.
Evidently the bilateral pneumonias that were seen in the X-rays before, have not occurred now. Omicrom seems to have a more powerful infection capacity, but it is not as strong in the respiratory system, but the vaccines have helped a lot in this situation.
Have you passed the coronavirus?
No, I haven’t.
It must be hard for health workers to understand that there are people who have not yet been vaccinated.
By numbers, we are seeing how the pandemic is evolving. In the end, the Delta will continue to exist and we don’t know if Omicrom will continue, but the vaccines are doing a lot. We heard many deaths every day and we have forgotten a little.
Going back to basketball. What goal does he have, what would he like to achieve?
I have it as a hobby where I always look for training and team building. What hooked me with Molina Basket was that it is a club of all and for all, that at no time have I been asked for results or achieve goals of winning leagues. It is true that the titles have come and we are very proud of the work we have done, but they have never been a goal. My goal is to train and create teams and a good atmosphere, that is, to create friends in the world of basketball.
Within basketball many friends are made.
During my time as a player, I managed to have friends from senior because I had changed clubs and I was not lucky enough to have many friends my age who played. In fact, we were promoted to higher teams because there were not enough girls. Friendships I got in my senior stage. Now I see the children, the boys and the girls, and it makes me envious and very happy to be able to experience that, even though it wasn’t possible at my stage.
Was there a shortage of girls in your time?
Yes, at ADM there were only three of us and we played with younger girls, and when I went to CB Molina they upgraded me to a higher category, which was two years older than my classmates.
Better coach than player?
It is true that my senior stage as a player was very good, and as a coach it is true that I won a junior league and another junior league, as well as being runner-up last year in juniors, but I have never considered what I am better at.
Do you enjoy training more than playing games?
They are different feelings. It’s true that in games you get frustrated sometimes that things don’t look the way they work in training. Right now, with the female senior and with the little ones, I enjoy training a lot because there is a very good vibe, we have fun and it is more relaxed. Matches require more concentration.
There are many coaches who prioritize winning over training and that undermines the goal of grassroots basketball.
For me it does distort them. For me, training is total and that a child improves. Everyone has their role in a team and you can’t always play with the good guys. I don’t think it’s good for anyone because you can have a very good team and you beat up your rivals, but when you go out of Murcia they eat you up because you haven’t had a competitive game per se.
How do you get a good vibe in your teams?
You have to know when to be tough and when to raise your hand. You can’t always go hitting and you can’t always be soft. In training there is time for all kinds of situations to arise and when the players are clear about what the times are, everything works. Children do not have to go to basketball as something forced.
But there are many children who leave the sport due to the pressure of the environment.
It is that in the end there are many times that parents are confused because they think that if their children do not make baskets, they are not good players, and maybe the best in the team is the one that best defends and unites all the teammates. If the bench gets up and applauds a player, it’s because something good is being done. There are many roles within a team and we need everyone. You have to learn to see sport in another area.
Have you ever met a father or mother who has reproached you for not playing with your daughter?
The truth is that I like that all girls play the same, although each category is different. In seniors it is different, because they are older and they all know what they are coming for, but it is true that in juniors I have very good children and maybe the five sevenths do not play, only three play and we are combining. I like that we all learn to play as a team because it is more difficult to defend a team than a player.
But individualism is very much ingrained in our society today.
Yes, but we have to work so that it is not like that. Many people ask me why my children pass the ball so much and it’s because I throw myself into practice saying “pass, pass, pass”.
