The Real Valladolid Baloncesto squad poses in the recently finished barbican of the Wine Museum in Peñafiel. /
“We know that we cannot match the greats for money and talent, only for physical and then for game,” says Paco García in Peñafiel, next to the imposing castle that houses the Wine Museum
The castle of Peñafiel shines bright, and once the recovery of the barbican has been completed, it adds one more attraction to the many it already had to capture the attention of tourists and admirers of heritage. The staff and coaching staff of Real Valladolid Basketball went there this Saturday to savor and at the same time mimic the solidity that the Wine Museum has acquired in the last two decades, based on the Castilian plateau.
The parallelism is perfectly valid for a much more inexperienced project that aspires this season to reinforce its main beams to fortify itself even more and consolidate itself as an alternative to the great bastions of the competition. This is what the castle has been doing for the last year, which already boasts of that defensive structure that served in the Middle Ages as a support for the fort’s contour wall; and this is how Pucela Basket has designed it this summer with the aim of physically approaching squads that are much more prepared in terms of talent and budget.
In his first public appearance, through an exhibition match in Peñafiel, it has already been possible to intuit the variety of resources and possibilities that Paco García will have in his hands this year. “We know that we cannot match the first teams for money and for talent, only for physical and then for game. We have worked hard and well in the summer, and from now on it is more of the coach’s job to make sure the pieces fit together”, the coach has been repeating in these first steps of the preseason.
In the session held behind the open doors, a squad could be seen, still green but much more complete than that of last season, in which some notable aspects emerged, such as the simplicity with which Kevin Allen understands the game -the only one on the squad who he does not know the LEB Oro-, in addition to his good movements with his back to the hoop, or the quality and benefits that a player who a priori could sound residual like Álex Mazaira can provide.
In the calculator it also adds the physical capacity, already known, of players like Kabasele or Belemene, and the leap in quality that Dominic Gilbert must give, already with the knowledge acquired in the final stretch of the last campaign.
Paco García himself acknowledges that he is satisfied with the group that has been formed, although he does not risk deciding whether it is the most complete squad of the club since its foundation. «I don’t know, I think that the squad that I left very structured, and that found an impressively talented Bartley (Frank), walked through many things alone and that directed by Hugo was able to have a good season, incomplete but a good one. season this? Of course it is the most physical, with five quality interior players that anyone can play as a starter. Then two very good level players per position and a wide range of being able to play with two point guards, with Gilbert at shooting guard,… Many things can be done so that this squad can give a lot of joy”, analyzes the Valladolid coach, who in his time in Peñafiel did not miss the opportunity to thank the treatment shown by the city council. “In addition, there was a large young audience, which shows the concern and expectation that this team is generating.”
Still with a lot of time to improve adaptation and certain aspects of the game (the league starts on October 7), the first orders are very clear. “Above all that they are capable of adapting to what we are asking of them. For me, the preseason is not a time of overload but of accumulation. Accumulation of physical work, content and concepts. That they understand what the coach is asking of them and the ideas that we later want to capture on the court. We have been doing it in training at the level of defensive placement and attacking plays to create what the team’s game design has to be. And at the same time the rapport, it is true that in this it helps that five players repeat from last season and two already know Paco’s way of training, “he points out, aware that certain players will need a process to give their maximum performance. «It is normal that those who come new, it is inevitable that they go a step behind because those who were already there know what I am going to ask of them and how they want me to place them. Now our objective is to arrive well at the start of the league, and in those first six games before the break we are going to try to ensure that the team is well prepared, ”summarizes Paco García.
Real Valladolid Basketball will play its first friendly this preseason on Wednesday, September 14 at the Ángel Nieto de Zamora pavilion (8:30 p.m.) against the host, a team led by Saulo Hernández and a member of the LEB Plata.
