MADRID, 31 Dic. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The president of the Spanish Basketball Federation (FEB), Jorge Garbajosa, is clear that, at the national level, this sport “is more united than before” the pandemic broke out and that it has gained “a lot of credibility” thanks to its “exercise of responsibility “, and although he knows that it is” really complicated “he hopes that he can return to normalcy to face the challenges that lie ahead.
“All Spanish basketball is more united than before the COVID crisis and closer to the fans. It has done an exercise of responsibility that I think gives a lot of credibility to its organization and to our sport. I wish we hadn’t had this crisis, but From the first day they confine us, until today and everything that remains, we have seen it as an exercise of responsibility, but also of ambition, “says Garbajosa in an interview facilitated by the FEB.
In this sense, he believes that his body, “not as just an organization but as the home of all levels of Spanish basketball, has demonstrated this ambition and responsibility.” “This puts us in the position where we should be,” he warns.
The former player asks by 2022 that the pandemic pass “to the history books and not to the daily newspapers” and that in the world of the basket stop talking about “postponements of matches and infections”. “It is really complicated, but we need and want to have a normality, like the previous one, in which we only worried that our competitions grow, that our training teams continue with their continuous evolution, that the absolute teams achieve results that make us feel proud to all, “he confesses.
“But it is the reality that we have and it is a challenge,” adds Garbajosa, who knows that they must strive to finish their competitions “in the first half of the year in the most successful way possible” and also to “organize why not the best training World Cup in history “, referring to the U-17 World Championship to be held in the summer in Malaga and for which they are” very optimistic “even though they do not know” what will happen “due to the pandemic.
In addition, the president of the FEB wishes that “the generational changes” that they are facing in the men’s team “culminate in a great Eurobasket” and that the female team “take advantage of this summer in which they will not have ordinary activity to accelerate this generational change with girls who are there “, pointing out other” challenges multiplied by three “due to the coronavirus, such as preparing for the U19 Women’s World Cup in Madrid in 2023 or growing in the 3×3 mode and in the” financial “way.
HAPPY TO HAVE “BLACK NUMBERS” AGAIN
On an economic level, it celebrates that they return to “throwing black numbers.” “Which is very important and even more so in a year of pandemic. I want to break a spear by all levels of Spanish basketball, who understand that not always everything they demand can be satisfied, but that there is always a common effort to seek financial stability that can allow this to continue to work, “he stresses.
For this reason, it does not forget “a fundamental and essential branch” such as sponsors in these times. “The only thing that we cannot guarantee is the results, but everything else is, and I think that has meant that we have earned a vote of confidence and that they continue here and even diversify,” Garbajosa remarks.
The president also believes that they have demonstrated that “continuous” commitment to hosting large events and that “it is not because” but because FIBA ”has confidence in Spain when it comes to organizing large events.” “It is to be appreciated, but we have also earned it hard,” he admits, stressing that these championships are needed “both in training categories and in absolute terms, to attract that of the media and new fans.”
“If Spanish sport grows and is bigger, basketball will also benefit. That is why the maximum collaboration with both the Superior Sports Council and the Spanish Olympic Committee, ADESP, in whose two executive committees I have the honor of But also basketball in Europe and in the rest of the world. We believe that Spanish basketball has an exceptional reputation and if we can contribute our bit to that growth, we will be delighted to do so “, declares the manager.
Jorge Garbajosa would also like the new Sports Law “to create a framework in which to solve many of the problems” that federations face daily because “everyone leaves their soul for this to work.”
“The administrations, the CSD, the Ministry of Culture and Sports will always have our collaboration and if they want to have our opinion, it will always be a pleasure to collaborate. To find stable frameworks, such as this Law, that allow us to face the future with the best guarantees to be able to make each of our sports grow “, he adds in this regard.
ILLUSION FOR THE CENTENARY IN 2023
Finally, the president of the FEB has words for the Centennial that they will celebrate in 2023 and that he sees, in a good way, as “a perfect excuse” to give value to basketball, a sport with “an extraordinary past, a wonderful present and a very hopeful future “.
“And those hundred years have to be the meeting point of these three realities. We are working on a series of large celebratory events, with one central. Working in a pandemic on a two or three year project is extremely complicated, but we are working in this and, for the moment, everything that is planned is being fulfilled. 2022 should be the year to specify what 2023 should be in order for it to be a year of celebration, “he says.