What has Aito come to Girona to do? Well, coaching a basketball team called Baloncesto Girona (laughs).
He has directed more than 1,000 matches in the ACB. What is left for you to do? What remains for me is to continue enjoying the day to day. History has its importance, but the present is even more so.
We still don’t know how long he has signed… I’m not worried about anything. Before, I looked at myself more in this sense because having a long contract was a bit like a guarantee of not having to be aware of the results every day, but now I don’t worry about this issue at all. So I dedicate myself directly to enjoy training.
So, what comes up has come for one more season? It would be this.
What did Marc Gasol ask you to accept the challenge? I did not speak with him, but first the sports director (Jordi Plà) contacted me and offered me what I think is always offered to a coach when you want to sign him: the possibility of working with the team. I’m delighted, that’s why I came.
Next Wednesday Girona will return to the ACB fourteen years later. You coached Penya in Akasvayu’s last ACB game in Fontajau in 2008. Is Girona having a basketball tradition an incentive or does it impose? I think it’s an incentive. Not only for us, but also for the public. Fortunately, it seems that the fans have responded very well by subscribing. Hopefully they can enjoy Fontajau and continue to support the team from start to finish.
What is the first memory that comes to mind of Fontajau? The time when Pedro Martínez trained and the team included San Emeterio, Marc Gasol, Víctor Sada… (Akasvayu). Marc made a spectacular leap, becoming a very good player to go to the NBA after many years.
“What remains for me is to continue enjoying day to day. History has its importance, but today is even more so” (Aíto)
Will the rivals see Girona only as a recent promotion, or the fact that you, Marc Gasol or that the city has a tradition are reasons to instill respect? Everything he comments always influences a little, but perhaps more so for the media. We are names that we have been working on for a while and it seems easier than if I were simply called García or Marc if I did not have the surname Gasol. The work must be the same and the most important thing will be that we work well, enjoying what we do.
After leaving Germany, he took a sabbatical year and ended up at Joventut giving young people technical skills. Did you miss elite basketball? No, because it is true that he trained young people but I also saw a lot of basketball. I have always seen the Euroleague and Eurocup, but I saw much less of the ACB in the four years I was in Germany. This year I have swollen to watch games on television.
In Girona they also have a young squad with experienced players. There is a mix of young inexperienced and veterans with a lot of experience, but everyone can always learn. They complement each other.
How have the players of today changed compared to those of 20 or 30 years ago? All the teams defend better, they are taller, stronger, there is more activity. If you go back and look at what they were like 40 or 50 years ago…you realize it was a different kind of basketball. Many things have been for the better and some for the worse. Basketball usually has the challenge of being better at everything.
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Now the obsession is to shoot and shoot three… Yes. It seems that everything ends with shooting threes, one on one and direct blocks, but I think we can complement it with the inside game, the fast game and make our basketball more and more spectacular.
And Marc Gasol? He directed him in 2008 to the Spanish team after having made a career in the NBA… What role should he have in the team beyond the joke he made in the presentation saying that if he did not train well he would stay? on the bench? It wasn’t a joke, it’s the truth (laughs).
