Pry: “Women have to demonstrate more on a bench”

Mary Pry It has been earned on its own merits to be considered one of the benchmarks to follow on the benches of the First Iberdrola. The Sevillian coach has gradually found a place in the top category of Spanish women's football, which came from the hand of Betis and in which she has fought this season for the Champions at the controls of I raised. The next season will continue in the granota team, with the ambition to continue growing as a coach. In the middle of his vacations, in which he admits he is finishing preparing the preseason, the one from Bormujos attended AS in an interview in which he values ​​the growth of women's football and talks about how he faces the next and “competitive season”.

Pry started her career as a coach at Sevilla in 2008, going through the child, the subsidiary and the first team, after finishing her career as a player in the Hispano club. With the Seville squad he achieved promotion to First in 2012, a milestone after which he headed to Betis. With the Baeticas he achieved promotion to the highest category in 2016, being the alma mater of the Verdiblanco project. At Primera Iberdrola, the Betis It was one of the revelations in the two seasons that Pry was in charge despite having one of the lowest budgets. Her opportunity came to take an important leap in her career with an ambitious project, like her, to fight to enter the Champions League. With tears in his eyes he left Betis and signed this summer for Levante.

How is this unusual season going?

Well. We are on vacation until the beginning of August. After confinement we trained six weeks and now we have taken a break to face the new season with fresh mint. We are finishing preparing some little things, although during the confinement we advanced a lot of material. In the end, even if you are on vacation, you do not disconnect 100%.

Did you notice a physical drop in the players after the quarantine?

Yes. There was a big difference in the physique. There were players who did not have training materials at home and we had to improvise a lot there. It is true that the involvement of the players has been very great, but on the return to work on the pitch we had to do more individualized training because there were players who did not have machines (treadmills, bicycles …) to do aerobic exercise.

The First Iberdrola will start on September 5. How do you look at a season with the uncertainty that this new normality presents?

We already had to do the same protocol to train as in men's soccer. All the protocols and follow-ups that have been done in the different men's teams of the club have also been applied to us. Uncertainty is something we all have. Hopefully the regrowths will be controlled and allow us to compete again within this new normal.

It's also reassuring to be under the umbrella of a structure like the one in Levante, isn't it?

Yes of course. They were the same protocols as the first team and the subsidiary. It was necessary to keep a distance with the first men's team, without being able to agree on schedules and fields. It was all very safe, with disinfection of all the material and the area. The players went through the phases safely. And fortunately we were able to train without problems.

How did they receive the suspension of the First Iberdrola, knowing that they still had mathematical options to reach the Champions League positions?

For us it was hard because, as you say, at a sporting level we still had options to reach second position. However, I think that the situation we were going through at the national and global level led to a decision like the one made. I think it was the most sensible thing to suspend the competition because not all the clubs could face the economic cost of the established protocols. Whether we agree or not, due to the fact that we still have options for that second place, if our sport has taught us anything, it is to respect decisions like this. Surely it was taken taking into account many conditions.

The fact that the First Iberdrola was not determined as a professional League was decisive in this decision, what do you think?

It is clear that in the medium term you want to professionalize women's football because it is a sport that is growing a lot. We must continue working to achieve it. Together we are making football as professional as possible and I think that soon the CSD will make the decision to make the league professional. Although we would like it to be already, I think it will have to wait because at the legislative level we have to meet all the requirements.

Do you think women's football has grown too fast?

Yes. It has evolved very fast. I think it has a lot to do with the games being broadcast because they reach more fans. More information is also available on the players and the teams. In this sense, I think the World Cup in France was also very important, as it put very powerful teams on the table. I think we have a lot to grow everywhere, despite the fact that we have made great progress in recent years. We need women's football to normalize. That it is not seen as something that has just arrived, but is here to continue growing and to stay. Now that we have managed to rise exponentially we will continue to grow and all the things we have managed not to lose.

When you look back and see everything that has evolved in this category, what do you think?

I have many positive things left. Eight years ago I came to Betis and it's not football at all. We have made a radical change to the category. But, the truth is that it also frightens me because I do not want to lose the identity that we have been forging in women's football in terms of the importance of the players and clubs that have fought so hard for this category. I think it is well born to be very grateful. We must acknowledge the work of clubs that do not have masculine structures and have invested heavily in women's soccer.

The professionalism of the players and even the coaches also has a lot to do with it. In his case, he has even launched his own brand with a website …

Many times the coaches go into the background and I think it has to be that way. But it is also true that we work a lot and what is also being seen in women's football is that the technical bodies are very professional. And with this brand and website it is intended that María Pry be known as a person and a coach. It is a way of reaching the hobby that can feel identified with me and that they know me very well.

That closeness is precisely one of the strong points of women's football. Are you afraid of being lost?

Also, I think we should continue like this. We have to be humble despite what we can achieve. If now that we are growing we are distant with the fans, we will achieve the opposite to continue adding. You have to be close to the fans or at least I try and motivate my players to do it.

On a personal level, did you want to be a coach since childhood?

The vocation came to me later. I started playing and I really enjoyed it. In the last year of my career, Sports Science, I took the B1 title of coach and, from that moment, I began to enjoy soccer differently: meeting the rival, doing tasks to improve training … And, I realized that what I liked most was training and I threw myself into it. I am very grateful to Sevilla for giving me the first opportunity to train, through the child, the subsidiary and the first team, to Betis for trusting me for seven years on the bench of the women's first team and to Levante, who have bet heavily on me now.

The First Iberdrola faces a new season with two coaches. What reflection would you leave with this fact?

I am one of those who think that not because it is a feminine category it has to be trained by women. I think that in a male or female category there must be those who are more capable. For me, there is also an aspect that changes over time. And is that if we compare the number of male licenses with that of female in terms of coaches there are more coaches. I have been training for 11 years and I feel very lucky for it. And in this sense I want to highlight that we have many coaches who are still active as players, such as Virgy (Seville), Laura (Betis) or Tirapu, who, when she stopped playing with Athletic after retiring, has become a goalkeeper coach in the Bilbao club. That change is taking place and many players from now on the bench will be seen in the future. I wouldn't want a woman to be unable to coach a men's team because it was men's soccer. That's where you have to give it normality. If tomorrow there is a woman who wants to lead a men's team, she should do it without problem. When that time comes, the whole situation will be normalized, which is what I'm fighting for.

The truth is that the number of women is less among coaches. But, there are also very trained coaches and in men's soccer you don't even think about them. What do you think of this?

I agree with you. Therefore, we must try to make the whole situation normal. It is true that women have to demonstrate much more on a bench than men because of that mentality that still exists. But, with the passage of time we are showing that we are prepared. In fact, in coaching courses they do not differentiate you for being women or men. The training is the same. It will take time to reach a normality where you think of a woman for a bench of the highest level, but I think not long. Already you begin to see more female presence on the benches.

Would you ever like to train a men's bench?

It is clear that you do think about it tomorrow. But, I like to live in the present. I don't know where I will be in two years. I know what I'm going to do this season. For a long time I have enjoyed the moment and the present, which are the only things that we coaches have guaranteed.

This new season of the First Iberdrola will have three Champions League positions instead of two. Does this fact motivate more?

I think like last season it was a very big difference between the first and the second and the third (Levante) was very big, this year it has been more even. We will continue working to aspire to the maximum, being that Champions League classification the objective. In the League, the competitive level of all the teams is being greatly increased and this increases the level of demand for the matches. That's good for the fans, who are enjoying watching hotly contested games. So we have to work harder and better to get there in the best shape.

In the midst of this growth in the category, Real Madrid Femenino has burst in. Is your arrival positive?

It is clear that the arrival of Real Madrid Femenenino is going to be very important for our competition. And it's going to make us have to do a lot more work. Despite the fact that Real Madrid has just arrived and will have to fit many pieces during this season, I have no doubt that the shield they represent demands the players the most. That is going to make a very beautiful League. It has also contributed a large area granite at the media level. Everyone was waiting for his arrival. This gets harder and harder and the clubs have to work harder.

Lastly, are you afraid that the COVID-19 crisis will push back everything that is advanced in women's football?

The health situation has taken its toll on all of society and football is not going to be less. There will be clubs with difficulties and they will have to reinvent themselves. In women's football we have gone through different potholes and we have always managed to reinvent ourselves and emerge afloat. Now it is time to find solutions to increase income in other ways. This time will be to continue working very hard. And everyone is aware that we have to unite to fight for women's football.