BadalonaFourteen years after the last time, Barça and Joventut de Badalona will face off in a semi-final of the Endesa League. The qualifier, scheduled for the best of five games, begins this Friday at the Palau Blaugrana (9pm, #Vamos). La Penya, which has not been so far since 2008, is proud of a proposal built around the people of the house. “The desert has been long, but the team has done a good job and re-engaged people playing with seven players from the squad. This is very romantic, but it’s not easy. People can’t imagine the merit that The people of Badalona like to see good basketball and this team plays it “, says Carles Duran, the coach of the green-and-black team.
“People can identify a lot with us. When it comes to the Supporters Club, people talk about a fun team, which plays fast and plays a cheerful and showy game for the spectator. I think at the Supporters Club we sell a It’s an exciting product because people have fun. I try to have a team format where everyone feels involved. There are roles and players with different experience, but everyone feels involved. “I like to be talked about as a team and not as a whole set of certain individuals,” the coach told ARA.
Duran took over the team in a borderline situation and now the scenario is different. “I lived the situation naturally. I tried to focus on what depended on me: to train well, to help the players, to be competitive and to try to win every game … Do my job! I tried to do more Peña than ever, Empowering the home player and giving value to the player made by us, I tried to introduce players who could help us. “People criticize us for not winning every day. We have to find the balance. Everyone says we’re a training club, but everyone wants us to be competitive and that’s what we’ve tried. I renewed because I think we shouldn’t lose.” our essence and that we want to follow this path “, adds the coach, who in 2008 was the coach of a cadet team of the Penya in which Ferran Bassas and Albert Ventura played.
“A different club”
One of the mainstays of the Youth is Joel Parra. “Our goal is for the Penya to be big again, like that of Jordi Villacampa and Rafa Jofresa. Matching what they did is very difficult because those years were very good, but we have to be one of the important teams in the Endesa League , that our rivals have the fear or the respect of other times. We have to get them to think: “Beware of the Supporters Club, which is a team that can win anyone”
For Parra, who walks the streets of Badalona bouncing a basketball, the Penya is not a club like the others. “This is a different club. The only similar thing could be Estudiantes, which is another historic club that is committed to the youth team. Joventut is a special club because it connects the players of the first team with those of the base. You are training on the sidelines, you can get closer to see how the first team works, they create the motivation to understand that if you work, you can become one of them. they are in the club. The good thing about La Penya is that if you are young they give you confidence and they bet on you “, he admits.
