MADRID, 29 Jun. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The president of the Spanish Basketball Federation (FEB), Jorge Garbajosa, elected at the end of May by the FIBA Europe Assembly as the organization’s new president, reiterated that during his seven-year tenure his dedication has been “absolute”, for which is “absolutely squeezed” and believes that “the time has come to make way for someone else with fresh ideas.”
“I’ve always liked it a lot, from an altruistic or selfish point of view, it’s collaborating with institutions, and one with which the FEB has collaborated the most is FIBA. A group of federations asked me why wasn’t I already encouraged by the fourth I said it’s okay”, he explained on the FEB Twitch about his choice to be in charge of FIBA Europe for the next four years.
Garbajosa believes that it is “honest” to leave the presidency of the FEB, a decision based on “professional and personal” arguments. “Here there have been seven years of absolute dedication and the time has come to make way for another person, with new ideas, because I am absolutely squeezed,” he acknowledged.
“When I took the FEB, it was a brown, this house fell. Now I feel very proud of the prestige that we arouse, as a credible federation,” he commented in a conversation with the journalist Iñako Díaz-Guerra, where he also reviewed his priorities in FIBA Europe.
Garbajosa stressed that the important thing will be the “global interest in basketball”, despite the “problem of the short blanket”. “You have to combine two things. You have to be aware that you don’t have the absolute truth and not continually change your mind, be firm,” he analyzed.
“Women’s basketball cannot be the basketball of ‘poor things’. It must be exploited and sold better, with more attractive competitions. The content is brutal, but the continent is something else, it must be improved a lot, it is not only putting fireworks on them. You have to make a more attractive format. It has to be a product of value and not of social responsibility”, he commented on one of the bases of his project, in addition to increasing aid for “small” federations.
Finally, the former player valued the influence of the NBA in the formation of the Spanish categories in Spain, highlighting its “invigorating” effect to “promote” basketball. “I don’t care if the kid watches the Endesa League, the NBA or national team competitions, the important thing is that they watch basketball. The triple is a tool that has grown due to the physical change of the players,” he concluded.