Girona“I’m tired of hearing so much.” While David Borrat takes the photos that accompany this interview, Laia Palau (Barcelona, 1979) warns that she is starting to need a little distance from herself, but as soon as the questions start the sporting director of Spar Girona leaves go with a speech that avoids banalities and hits the nerve.
How do you feel in these first days as sports director?
— Well, it’s strange, because it’s a job that, despite having experience in the world of basketball, I’ve never done and I don’t know. I dedicate many hours to learning how this world works, the structure of the club and how the world of agents and players is managed, which is obviously not far from me but is changing.
Do you like to command?
— I’ve always liked commanding on the court because it was part of the base position and the captaincy, but now you have to make more decisions and be more of an executor. When I was a player, I transferred the coach’s orders to the court, and now, despite having a structure above me, I have to make decisions that must be clear. There are moments of doubt, but I believe that this will always accompany me because I am a person who questions everything.
How do you sleep better?
— The other day, after losing in the first leg of the Euroleague qualifier, I thought I wouldn’t change anything with the players, because I know what it means to lose a game and not get enough sleep. But it’s true that since I started this job I haven’t slept very well, because my sense of responsibility encompasses more things and unknown terrain. I have suffered enough.
Has the grief of being an ex-player passed?
— I think so, but this is a process that is not a matter of a month or five, which is the time I have been doing now. Many of my ex-teammates tell me that you need at least two years to find yourself off the court. But it’s also true that I don’t like looking back. In addition, the frenzy ofinputs new and learning helps me to make every day an adventure. I don’t think about what I have done and been, but about what I have to do. I think I’m doing pretty well, I don’t feel like playing, which is what always makes you suffer the most. I don’t notice the call of the ball.
The life change is capital, how do you face it?
— In the same way as playing. Every day I wake up with all the energy that is required to face the challenges. Maybe my head will explode at some point, but I try to build a team and that the people I work with are clear about the goal we have in common. I am at the service of the needs of the team and the club.
How did you get into basketball?
— Well, that’s how most people start. My schoolmates played a lot in the playground and I have always been very multi-sporty, I like movement and physical activity. Having an important family tradition helped, but basketball was what was brought up in my environment. I started without being very aware that I would end up being a professional, but it has been a series of stages that I have been burning to keep moving forward. In the end, this has become my world and I have had a 25-year career in it.
What did you want to be as a child?
— I didn’t want to be a professional player, at that time we didn’t have that look. I wanted to reach the senior team. I didn’t think I would make a living from basketball, I’ve been finding it.
When did the definitive change in which the sport went from fun to profession?
— This is a change that took a lot for me to make, because it is one thing to have basketball as a hobby and another get paid to play. When you are a professional you have a responsibility, some duties. Carme Lluveras was the coach who took me by the ear and told me how things should be and that basketball should become the absolute priority. I didn’t take it very well. I had a battle that later came back to me: do you really want to do this? I wanted to do other things in the social and cultural world, I had many other concerns. The sport takes a lot of discipline and commitment, and I became a competitive animal. I knew how to fit it into my personality.
How has he lived with the pressure?
— You have to get along with the pressure. At times I have behaved badly. No matter how experienced you are, pressure is a self-demand on yourself, beyond what the club or team expects. You are the one who sets the limits. Pressure is tricky, especially when you’re young. When you go up in level you have a different pressure, the problems increase. As you progress you learn to carry your backpack.
Has his way of understanding life created contradictions with elite sport?
— Yes, because my conception of the world is to try to build a better society, and this collides with pure and hard competition, in which the result is what matters and you have to be better than the other. I like to add the best individual version to make the collective better, but in highly competitive teams this is not always easy. It was an important battle of mine, but in the end I ended up solving it. I was able to adapt and convey my idea.
You once said that it was not clear what you brought to the world. Because?
— The world is very big and there are many things to do. There are things that have a more direct influence on the welfare of society. From building houses to healing people. Sport is important for the values it conveys, but women’s sport is also not seen as a big show. My life depended on whether or not a basket went in, but it wasn’t clear to me that I was contributing anything important to improving people’s lives. Over time I have realized that it is important to pass on values, pave the way for girls who climb and be a spearhead. The structures have changed and now, in addition, it can be a professional exit.
You, who are very empathetic with your environment, how do you live in a world of political instability, wars and pandemics?
— I live badly. I don’t think we as a society can be proud of where we are. What have we come here to do? How should we work to eradicate differences? At these heights a war seems out of place to me. It is out of place that we should be killing each other, we should have dialogue. It is difficult to understand the world, but I try to change my immediate environment. I look for my day to day to be of quality, because nothing is guaranteed and we don’t know what will happen. You have to try to make every day count, to go to bed happy thinking that you did your job well and solved things.
On is shelter?
— In my people, because it is what keeps me in place of the things that are important to me, of what I consider we should value. In the end, we don’t have much left but the people we are close to, the family. Whatever it is, the one you created or the one you have. And nature, which gives me a point of mental cleansing and communion with who we are. We must try to connect with the most essential and primary things.
When you were playing, did you ever feel like an artist?
— No, although I have had a creative soul. There are some basic rules and then there is your ability to strip and knot concepts, to create new things. I really like the order within the track, but you have to give yourself freedom to create things. I have never played for others, I played for my friends, for myself and to enjoy myself.
do you write Paints?
— I’m doing things, but now I have a lot of work. I really like writing, and communicating, and now I’m doing it in a more oral way. There is a thought process that serves me to put my experience and my background in order. I would like to paint, but I haven’t had free hours for a long time. I’ve neglected this branch quite a bit, but it’s a process and there will come a time when I’ll need to feed on these things again to reshape myself. I’m inspired by people who convey things.
A The last dance Michael Jordan is portrayed as the greatest competitor in history. How would you like to be in the documentary they are making?
— I would like to stay as I am, as someone who has excelled in his discipline. Degrees measure success in this world. But beyond what I have achieved, I am very happy with how I have made my life. Finding my balance has not been easy. I’ve always been where I wanted to be and I don’t feel like I’ve ever had to sell myself. I’ve been what I wanted in every moment and that puts you at ease when you go to sleep. Basketball has been an excuse to express myself as I am. Now I’m being valued in another way besides being a player. That people want to count on me is what matters.
Does it weigh a lot to be an icon?
— I am hardly aware of it most of the time. Being exposed to the media and finding a narrative thread of what you want to convey means that you have to be checking yourself, but I try not to think about it too much. It’s a mental burden… What I want is to have a normal life without thinking about the character, but there is a sentence by a great intellectual, who is Spiderman, which says: with great power comes great responsibility. And so it is.
Society changes and women’s sport gains visibility: with which eyes do you look at it?
— I am seeing changes, but it is not so clear to me that the structures have changed so much. I don’t know if we have made that much progress… There is a look and an intention in the issue of women. You can’t make half the population invisible. It is about balance and social justice. We can talk more about it, but there must be a structure that accompanies this media growth, which is not that much either.
How can it be specified?
— It’s all a question of money. When this is needed in the collective mentality, the investment will grow. We can try to make this world more known, but in the end we need to bet on it and invest in it so that people can live and not waste their lives. Players must be able to have the best conditions to work in the best way. Sponsors are looking for a return… Little by little the situation has to balance out and things will fall under their own weight.
How is life in Girona?
— I really like living in Girona. I fell in love with it very quickly. There are things I miss about Barcelona, Prague, Bourges, Valencia or the other cities I’ve lived in, but I’m fine in Girona. The city gives me everything I need and has very quick access to nature. It’s a very good place to grow things.
Uni Girona is a different club, what is the secret?
— A lot of daily struggle. It has a romantic and personal edge that fits my temperament very well. The club believes in people, in the environment, in the territory, in involving many people… Everyone feels part of the project and this causes the fans to return. It’s a really cool way to build sustainably.
We did this interview in his campervan…
— I would like to use it to go far and travel. It’s like a second home and I use it as an office a bit. I use it as a warrior’s rest. It gives me freedom and the possibility of having my own space wherever I am. My life is very marked by the sports calendar, but the van gives me the freedom to leave at any time.
