FIBAEurope.com met two coaches who
reached the U16 European Championship Women Quarter-Finals but are looking for
the future of basketball in their countries.
Evaristo Perez, head coach of Spain,
and France head coach Arnaud Guppillotte both agree on the starting point: nine
games in 11 tournament days is a strong experience for U16 players and, being a
coach, the challenge is to help them realize what happens during these days.
"The competitive level and
intensity of play is completely different from the games held in their
countries," confirms Perez.
"When you carry many years of
experience doing this kind of tournaments, you yourself have learned that each
competition is a different story, you must be able to teach that to each
player."
Guppillotte says, smiling, that one
must "guess what will happen."
"We know that it's a totally
new mental experience to them, so we try to anticipate everything that would
happen in a match. It is not an easy task. "
EVOLUTION AND EXPERIENCE
Both coaches are aware of the
importance practice centres, like those sponsored by their national
federations, have.
In Spain, it is the Siglo XXI, in
France the Centre Fédéral.
With about 18 hours of weekly
training, Guppillotte argues that the players, at Centre Fédéral, develop twice
as much as club's players.
"They have more hours of
training and this creates a gap between the players."
"Working together brings a
great benefit," adds Perez.
"The players of the Siglo XXI
benefit from a basketball formation at all levels and, in the long run, this
will bear the results of the Spanish national team."
"Anyway, at the U16 level, we
get this project's results immediately," Perez believes, while Guppillotte
points out that, at Centre Fédéral, he benefits from working with players with
different characteristics.
"There are two profiles of
players entering the Centre Fédéral," he explains.
"On the one hand, players who
are ready to represent France in the present conditions, and thus are playing
in tournaments like the U16 European Championship Women.
"On the other hand, we work on
identifying players with future potential, especially taller players.
For them we have a specialized
programme, which will make them compete later at international level, but with
strong possibilities to assert themselves as good players. "
Although the existence of these
projects could bring more pressure to the players, "as the need to deliver
results gets bigger," Guppillotte argues that this is positive, since it
also offers an opportunity for players to grow mentally.
"Basically, to be a basketball
player is a mental challenge. We can help them in the physical aspects, but it
is the psychology of each athlete that will define whether she will be a top
player or not. "
WHAT TO EXPECT IN THE FUTURE?
For Perez, "aged 16 years,
these players still do not think about the future, they're somehow unconscious
about what they will do.
"They love and want to play,
the future is not a concern for them.
"Anyway, the top players will
always be able to play as professionals, maybe not in Spain but abroad,"
he says.
"In Spain, we are entering a
process of team reorganization. Clubs are trying to find ways to continue to
have a good basketball level in the present reality of our country.
"But abroad, the best players
will find space to make their careers, as it is happening with our national
team players, which evolve in different EuroLeague Women teams."
In France, there's a similar situation.
"Our teams have an average
level in European terms.
We have three teams in the
EuroLeague Women, we have good practice conditions, perhaps the best players
they can find better conditions to be professionals outside France, but they
also have opportunities in our country," advocates Guppillotte.
In this group, Marie Milapie seems
destined to face high challenges.
"Marie is in a position to be a
top player," Guppillotte confirms.
"I think in this group there
are four or five athletes who will become professionals. The next step, whether
they'll be able to claim a spot on the senior national team or not is hard to
tell at this stage.
"Everything depends on their
personal evolution, the way they'll work to reach this level."
Guppillotte and Perez are aware of
how crucial their work may be for these players' future and do not hesitate to
put their experience into their athletes' service.
In the coming years, they will
certainly be remembered, as some of them reach the top of their careers.
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