GUADALAJARA, 14 Jun. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The Spanish basketball team player María Conde believes that the Spanish team is “doing things that other teams cannot” during their ‘Road to the Future’ tour and that “in the long run” it will be seen “how positive this is going to be summer” in which “things are being done very well”.
“We are doing things that the other teams cannot do, which is to prepare without any pressure from anything or a championship, it is to prepare ourselves for the simple fact of getting together more. There are teams preparing for championships that now we do not have to do and I think that at the long we will see how positive this has been”, explained María Conde this Tuesday during the team’s concentration in Guadalajara.
The Madrilenian believes that “once the moment passes” of not being able to qualify for a major competition, as happened last year, we must try to look for the positive side. “It is a very hard moment for the group, for the people who were there and what we had put in to be there. But now, put into perspective and this summer, I think it is something very positive for all of us and, in the end, the veterans They had been I don’t know how many years without stopping, without having a summer in which they could really take care of the body or the mind,” he commented.
Conde values being able to “train” and at the same time “take care of everything”. “All the things you can’t during the seasons, which are very long, some with double meets, if someone decides to go to the United States, then the summer meets,” he said.
“I think having a summer to be able to stop, breathe, reconnect each one with ourselves and be able to put in a little work at this time, which is also important due to the entry of Miguel (Méndez, coach) and that of many players, I think that is going to give us a plus for the matches, first now in November and February, which are very important in order to qualify for the Eurobasket, and then for the European Championship”, he highlighted.
María Conde stated that in the national team “things are being done very well” during this period of generational transition. “We have a staff in which we are very well surrounded and I think they are doing a very good job of listening to each other and listening to us too. We have to do things progressively to get to the matches in the best conditions of the weekend,” he said.
Spain have won their first two games of the summer, against Belgium and Italy, and now they will have to travel to the transalpine country to play a second game against their national team and against Slovenia. “Playing friendlies at home is not the same as going out on the courts in Europe now and also putting ourselves to the test. This week is important to prepare for those matches and we’re all looking forward to training,” he stressed.
“I LOVE BEING WITH THE SELECTION”
Conde, who plays for USK Prague, acknowledged that he is “very excited” to be with the national team. “I love being with this team, seeing the people. In the end, most of them are lucky enough to be here in the Spanish league and to see each other every day, to play against each other and that allows you to have a bit of continuity in relationships. and everything,” he said.
“In the end, I am away, and therefore I have no contact with them. So coming and training, being able to see each other’s faces, being able to talk, is always a luxury. And also with the coaching staff we are all delighted, I think that It’s nice to be here and that’s how I live it,” he added.
The international feels that sometimes she wants to play again in Spain. “When the bug bites me the most is when there are competitions like the Queen’s Cup or the Super Cup, when all the teams meet somewhere,” she confessed.
However, she was “very happy in Prague right now”. “I think I have a very nice opportunity to live there many things in a place where I am very comfortable and well, for now the opportunities have come like this, that’s how I have taken them, and I suppose there will come a time when I want to return, but at the moment I am here and already in the future we will see what happens”, he clarified.
At 25 years old, Conde is one of the most established players within the national team, going from being one of the promises to seeing how younger people are entering, something that she qualifies with laughter as “very hard”. “No, very well, I think that the beautiful thing is that many of the players of my age or similar ages who have had the opportunity to grow with the veterans and that they have been marking the path that we have to follow, which is nothing again, we are not inventing the wheel ourselves,” she stressed.
“This was already done, things have worked because there have been a lot of players like Alba Torrens and Silvia Domínguez who are now here, or Laia Palau and all those who have come before who have laid the stones on the road that we have to follow Therefore, we are going to continue biting, doing what they have done, which has worked, and continue making sure that every time people come in they feel comfortable and continue forming a team, a united group every time we are here and then the results will come,” Conde stressed.
In this sense, Laia Palau has already left the courts, going from being her partner to the Team Manager of the national team, something that according to María Conde is “a blast for all”. “If she was already listening to her when she was here on the court and playing, then being away from her gives her even one more point of being aware of seeing everything from the outside and being able to help us,” she explained.
“Her role now is essential for us now, especially for those of us who are taking part in the transition a bit, those of us who were already there, like those who are arriving now, to have the figure of Laia Palau here to be able to ask for advice, a few words in a moment of training that you need or in a game I think it will come in handy”, he concluded.