“A year that will remain to be remembered”

Jorge Garbajosa, president of the Spanish Basketball Federation, reviews the historic summer of the national teams, the world number 1 ranking reached by the senior men’s team after their gold in the Eurobasket, the start of a new stage in the women’s team, the redoubled commitment to the 3×3 format…

“Many people working and working very well”

“2022 is a year that will remain to be remembered. In the summer we lived it with great intensity because the successes followed one after the other, practically every Sunday we played a different final until we reached the Eurobasket grand final. And that succession is so continuous of great successes, it probably did not allow us to savor it properly. Now that more than three months have passed since Eurobasket was the last tournament, the aftertaste is getting sweeter. When you have all the categories playing the final, from the Men’s Absolute to the U16 , Masculine and Feminine, it is because there are many people working and working very well”.

“Rudy’s message was a boost of self-esteem”

“We have to be realistic. This Eurobasket was not a transition championship but a construction championship, with a generation that had been working from the Windows but had never faced such an important championship together. And you face Eurobasket probably with a higher level than the story. I remember the conversation with Rudy, who calls me and says: “Presi, what if…?” And I say: “Really?”. And he answers: “And why not.” I have it recorded, because for me it was a boost of self-esteem, because I thought ‘if these guys believe it, to death with them’.

“Scariolo is the great captain of this ship”

“Sergio [Scariolo] He is the great captain of this ship. He has always been, and in this championship his leadership has possibly been more visible. Along with the captain’s… There is much talk about Sergio’s board, which is infinite, but I would prefer something more ethereal probably but for me more decisive: convincing a series of players to prepare a defense that you have not trained never before, with a training session after having played a match and playing again the next day, so it’s not a very intense training session either because the forces give for what they give… take out a zone, a different defense, from alternative help, and that the team believes in that book and executes it in that way, for me it is the great merit of Sergio”.

“With Lorenzo Bworn everything matched up, based on his desire”

“We bet on Lorenzo for many reasons, we explain them many times, but there is also an analysis of what this team needs and what Lorenzo can give. And everything fits, everything fits, based on his desire to play with the National Team and be part of Spanish basketball From there the doors open wide, because if we always talk about something it is that this team in all these years has been built through commitment, and your commitment is greater than giving up your nationality It’s beastly.”

“In the World Cup we are going to be competitive”

“I expect the most from this team. Is the best thing to come back with a medal? I have no idea, and it doesn’t matter that much to me, what matters to me is maintaining that group feeling that the players have during the year. As I was saying Miguel Méndez to the players of the Women’s National Team: you wear the shirt of your club and you defend it with all the professionalism and pride in the world, but underneath it is always the shirt of the Spanish National Team. As long as we have this feeling, I know that In the World Cup we are going to be very competitive. Is he going to give us a medal? I don’t know, it worries me a lot”.

“I was moved by the illusion of the players for number 1 in the world ranking”

“When we found out that we were number 1 in the world ranking, before it was made public, I called the captain and the most representative players and told them, their illusion moved me, because they felt it was something very beast. Having touched the sky in this way is of incalculable value. Because it is a ranking that values ​​perseverance, not a specific success but all the international championships, Olympic Games, World Cup, Eurobasket and qualifying windows”.

“The Martín Carpena with 8,000 viewers, the Teledeporte audiences…”

“Spain cannot lower the level, and having so many successes I always say it, are we always going to win? No. But seeing how the U16, U17, U18, U19, U20 work, it is obvious that we will always be competitive. Compete At home it has two faces. One is the support of families, the fans, the media. But it is also a pressure for the young kids, and that makes them grow a lot. See the Martín Carpena with 8,000 spectators or the audiences in Teledeporte of this half a million, I am super sure that it also served as an incentive to all the teams that continued to compete. This group has a special aura, and the truth is that I am excited to see them play, they have a long way to go that excites me a lot of”.

“With the female it has been an atypical difficult summer, but very nice”

“With the women’s team it has been a difficult summer, unfortunately atypical, but very nice. We signed for me the best coach in Europe by far, who is Miguel Méndez. I remember Alba Torrens that there were a couple of days that she couldn’t train and came to apologize to me. I told her ‘Alba, just being here is gold for your teammates.’ To the young player who comes to a summer camp, without a championship, and sees Alba Torrens, and who also suffers for not Being able to train, is the best example of that, of what we call The Family, which is not just living together, it is competing, and how these players compete and how we are already preparing for the Eurobasket for which we have qualified, makes me very optimistic and feeling something that is the most important thing this summer was difficult, which was not having the feeling of wasted time”.

“We are going to launch the Spanish 3×3 Training Championships”

“3×3 is not the future, it is now the present, and the important thing is to work in two ways: today, try to qualify all our men’s and women’s teams in all possible championships for both Paris and Los Angeles , and in training, we are going to launch the Spanish U13, U15 and U17 championships. That medals will come after us like we have this summer, is what helps you sustain this enthusiasm for the program. We want people to have the feeling that we are also a powerful country in 3×3, both for men and women”.