MADRID, 13 Feb. (EUROPA PRESS) –
Cristina Mayo, the most successful coach in the history of Spanish women's handball, is the protagonist of a new edition of 'El Legado', an interview project launched by the Higher Center for Sports Education (CSED) of the Higher Sports Council (CSD), which aims to record the accumulated knowledge of the great Spanish technicians and put them at the service of the entire sports community to keep the flame of lifelong learning alive.
A key figure in the evolution of Spanish women's handball, she was an international player at the beginning of the 1970s and even began her career on the bench, combining it with her work on the court. Mayo became part of the history of Spanish sports at the head of Íber. “One of the things we did well was to take the step from amateurism to professionalism. We realized that we were missing a lot and we began to analyze where we were failing. We had to train more hours and look hard for the spectacle,” he recalls, giving a key value to the commitment of the company that gave its name to the Valencian team for the development of women's handball in Spain.
Mayo remembers that they saw “how the game had to evolve to be in Europe.” “Íber also saw it, respected the idea and let us grow,” recalls the Madrid coach, who does not forget the role of the players, “the main protagonists of change.”
In the interview, held at the CSD headquarters, the one from Alcalá de Henares was accompanied by Rosa García and Charo Ortiz, two players with whom she shared time and with whom she explained the concepts on which her way of training was based. “If you explain to a group of female athletes why you play like this, why you defend like this or why you have to work on physical preparation and the players understand it, you have already won their heart, their passion and their dedication,” she warns. .
Mayo also does not forget the importance of coach training and therefore sends a message to those technicians who are beginning their career. “You get your power as an expert by studying, working, talking to the best. In short, by training, you cannot spare effort in your training. You have to know everything because you are the one who has to make the decisions,” he points out, highlighting that His teams “did not give a truce.”