In 2013, in the midst of euphoria after hanging the gold on the Eurobasket with the Spanish women’s team, Elisa Aguilar phoned her agent and told him: “It’s over. I’ve come this far. I’m hanging up my boots.” The decision became more important because he had a signed contract with a club in Poland, but at 37 years old, he decided it was time to take the next step. “During my 20 years as a player, I knew that an injury or a coach’s decision could complicate my professional career. That’s why I always had the idea of training in my head. I always liked management and decided to prepare for it.”
He studied Economics at George Washington University and three master’s degrees in Sports Management, and on October 2 she was named the new president of the Spanish Basketball Federation. In the year of the FEB’s centenary, Elisa became the first woman to preside over a so-called ‘big’ Federation.
The first time Aguilar entered the FEB or had a relationship with it was 33 years ago, she was then 14 and that girl who discovered basketball at the age of nine at the Amorós school was called up in Pamplona by the cadet team. It was 1990 and since that day Elsa’s destiny has run parallel to that of the national team and the Federation. This Madrid economist She is the sixth player who has worn the Spain shirt the most times, with 222 caps. In addition to being one of the 14 Spaniards, specifically the fourth in order after Amaya Valdemoro, Betty Cebrián and Marina Ferragut, to play in the WNBA. Aguilar spent one season with the Utah Starzz.
President by overwhelming majority
Elisa was proclaimed president almost unanimously, since Of the 79 assembly members who attended the Extraordinary Assembly that was held in the Madrid room of the Eurobuilding hotel in the capital, 77 voted in favor and two blank. Present in the room were the president of the COE, Alejandro Blanco; the senior staff of the FEB and Jorge Garbajosa, already as president of FIBA Europe; Antonio Martin, president of the ACB; Alfonso Reyes, president of the ABP, and Juan Fernández, of the CSD Presidency Cabinet. All the living forces of Spanish basketball… and its surroundings. An unequivocal sign of the good health enjoyed by the sport of basket in Spain.
Aguilar boasts of running for president of the FEB“not because I am a woman, but because I consider that I have personal and professional background and can contribute a lot to the institution.” But she does not hide that she is “very excited to be the first to preside over one of the great federations of Spanish sport. It is the first step of many that will follow.”
Elisa was never afraid to leave her comfort zone. This is the only way to explain that after becoming champion of the Queen’s Cup and runner-up in the League with Canoe as a child (she debuted at 16 years old), she went to the United States to enroll at George Washington University, where she played three Years and a half. The Spanish base became a recurring image in the pages of ‘The Washington Post’. There she became a star of the team and a reference for her teammates. He was Rookie of the Year and All Star of the university league, entering the Top-20 with more than 1000 points and 300 assists.
Once her training was finished, she returned to Spain, to Halcón Viajes in Salamanca, where she was runner-up in the Cup, in addition to winning bronze in the European Championship in France. The following year she packed her suitcase and went to Caja Rural Canarias, where she had time to think about her next challenge. The summer of 2002 he returned to the United States to play in the best league in the world, the WNBAas the base of the Utah Starzz. One season was enough for her and she was recruited by the champion of the Spanish league, Ros Casares Valencia, where she spent nine years in which she won all the titles in Spain and played in two Euroleague Final Fours, but did not win the title.
In the summer of 2010 he decided to move closer to home, to Madrid, signing for Rivas Ecópolis, where he spent two seasons. And from there he went to Moscow enlisting in Spartak Moscow Region, where he finished his career. He retired after winning the 2013 Eurobasket, the culmination of a career with five continental medals (gold, two silver and two bronze), and a world bronze.
Today Aguilar is the 12th president of the FEB in the 100-year history of the Federation. She affirms that in the office it is like on the court: “I was a base and I liked to look at the game from the front, analyze and look for the best option. As president I am analytical, I look for solutions to everything. I have the capacity for sacrifice and effort, with generosity. I have never been obsessed with the merit of scoring points, continuing with the simile, but I don’t shy away if they give me the ball and I have to play it. That’s how I am. “I like to conciliate, I speak little and listen more.”
2023-12-30 07:57:11
#Elisa #Aguilar #playmaker #president
