An unforgettable summer – AS.com

2022 has been an unrepeatable year and not only because the Spanish basketball team has won its fourth continental gold at the Eurobasket in Berlin and has ousted the extremely powerful USA Team in first place in the FIBA ​​ranking. Spain closes this 2022 at the top of the world, but the most positive thing is that the future looks just as good. “Apart from what it means for sporting success, joy and drive for basketball to continue growing in our country, these successes represent recognition of a job well done for many years,” says Jorge Garbajosa, president of the Spanish Federation. Basketball (FEB). “The training medals show thatDespite the difficulties of the pandemic, our teams continue to grow and walk towards a future that looks brightin which they will act as a replacement for those who today wear the shirts of the absolute Selections. And the Eurobasket gold is the icing on the cake that was missing to crown the program that was launched at the Benahavís concentration in 2017with which it was sought not only to ensure performance in the Qualifying Windows, but to expand the base of players and talent so that the name of Spain continued to be associated with the medals”.

The summer started with the U-17 World Cup in Malaga and with a generation, that of 2005, which the first intercontinental medal in training categories of this century was hung; the last one had been that of the Júnior de Oro in 1999, a generation that later changed everything and turned Spain into a team admired and envied in equal parts. Therefore, remember these names well: Izan Almansa, Lucas Langarita, Aday Mara, Hugo González, Álvaro Folgueiras, Sergio de Larrea… because it seems that in the future they will also give us a lot of joy. “It is true that a generation had never erupted in such an exciting way since the boys who won gold in Lisbon in 1999, but I think that It is early to compare them with that group, and that, above all, we must take care of them and prevent excessive pressure from acting as a brake for its development”, asks Garbajosa who, yes, confesses that “the group paints excellently”. “They brilliantly broke down the door with the Spain shirt and they continue to break it down now with their clubs in the Endesa League. Hopefully the injuries respect them and they can continue to evolve as well as they are up to now”.

After that world silver medal it was the turn of the U-20 girls, a category that Spain has been especially good at (eight gold medals in the last ten editions) and that in Sopron (Hungary) continued that good run. It was a choral triumph, but with Claudia Contell as MVP. The Valencia Basket base, on loan this season to Hozono Global Jairis from Murcia, is beginning to win stripes in the LF Endesa, but it is not the only one. They have also played a game in the elite women’s basketball begona of santiago (Movistar Students), Julia Rueda (Roof), Txell Alarcon (Araski), Laia Lamana, Noa Djiu and Elena Buenavida (Valencia Basket).

One day after the Sub-20 climbed to the top of the podium, the women’s Under-17s played the final of their World Cup against the United States. As in the men’s championship, it couldn’t be either, so second silver for Spain, which two weeks later he went back to the top in the European Sub-20, the one for the older ones, guided by the youngest Juan Núñez, that a few days after that he placed himself under the command of Sergio Scariolo and became the fourth youngest rookie in the history of the National Team, behind only Carlos Sevillano, Juan Antonio Corbalán and Ricky Rubio. Some of his teammates are beginning to show their heads in the Endesa League: Michael Caicedo (Barça), Miguel Allen (Joventut), Millán Jiménez and Guillem Ferrando (Valencia Basket)… “The gold medals in the Under-20 category ensure that in the future we will continue to compete in the same way that we have done so far. Like I always say, We can’t promise medals, but we will jump to give everything on the track and leave it with our heads held high. proud of our dedication and our values. Based on this basic premise, two Under-20 gold medals are one of the best news that one can receive as president, because they certify that the work continues to be done excellently and that the replacement, when it touches, it will be ready“, says the federal president.

Then came the junior gold, with Izan Almansa repeating as MVP, and the U16 cadet silver medals for Mario Saint-Supery and Iyana Martín. But the final touch remained. Spain landed in the Eurobasket without entering the favourites, but grew with the transfer to Berlin (the first phase was played in Tbilisi, Georgia), where they eliminated Lithuania in extra time, rose again against Finland in the second part, they silenced the Mercedes-Benz Arena in the semifinals against hosts Germany and left France without a chance in the title game. The Selection left Berlin with the world at its feet, like European and World Champion. “I would say that I feel a mixture of pride and responsibility that is unusual. Being president with all these successes is a privilege, but I have always liked to live up to my responsibilities when I was on the field, and I demand the same of myself now: if the team is World and European champion, the management that we must contribute from the Federation must be equally outstanding. That is what we work for, and honestly, I think that is what we are achieving from the offices”.

In short, nine medals (four gold and five silver) for Spanish basketball this year in which they also boasts eight MVPs: Willy Hernangómez (absolute), Izán Almansa (Under-18 and Under-17), Juan Núñez and Claudia Contell (Under-20), Elena Buenavida (Under-18) and Mario Saint-Supery and Iyana Martín (Under-16). A historic summer for the Federation that serves as an appetizer for what is to come. In 2023, the FEB is celebrating its centenary anniversary and will celebrate it as the world leader and with nine shining medals that augur a promising future. “If they had told us that we would enter the year of the centenary as the number 1 team in the world for FIBA, we would have taken whoever announced it to us for crazy. But that’s the way it is and I don’t think there is a better gift, or a better way to celebrate our 100 years. Nor would we find a more effective incentive for all those who are the protagonists of the second century of our history to squeeze themselves to the maximum: the successes of these last summers are the best springboard to enter with ambition in the next hundred years of Spanish basketball”.