It's a big day at the historic Ramon Sitjà pavilion, the ancient track of CB Sant Josep de Girona. Sticky heat and uproar of 150 expectant families in front of two giants of the basket. More than 60 years of combined experience in basketball, 21 medals with the national team, six Olympic Games, Euroleagues, leagues, rings and NBA All Stars... and the common denominator of Girona come together in Marc Gasol (37) and Laia Palau (42), who have combined their wills to promote an innovative project: they have joined Bàsquet Girona and Uni Girona to create a comprehensive female-based training structure.
The merger, called Bàsquet Girona-Uni Laia Palau, will have 150 players, from 6 to 18 years old, who will join the 250 players of Bàsquet Girona. It is the result of the sum of these two visionaries who spoke with La Vanguardia to explain their joint project.
Marc Gasol: This project stems from the desire to grow this sport that we love so much. We must join hopes and efforts to build a future where basketball is an exemplary sport for the rest. Training basketball has given us so much that we were clear when we sat down that many wills united us, so everything was simple and quick (with Laia) to create a structure where we could all contribute and see our wills reflected.
Laia Palau: Marc is intelligent, wanting to give this boost to basketball, I don't know if it's because he has a daughter (Júlia). It is a great opportunity. We take advantage of a structure like that of Bàsquet Girona, and they take advantage of the experience and trajectory of Uni Girona in women's basketball, and we join synergies. cool, right? He arrives in Girona with the obsession of "I want to base, I want to base" and he has gotten involved in doing everything...
MG: Yes, yes. From the experience of Uni, Laia Palau, Pere Puig and his entire team, combined with ours from Bàsquet Girona we can make a great family. There is a lot of enthusiasm and desire to do a benchmark project. Joining with other clubs is easier.
LP: We want it to be a comprehensive training project, because basketball is not just shooting baskets, there are values behind it, an education and many things to take into account: nutrition, psychologist, English... This is what will grow later and what will form our basketball.
The harmony between Gasol and Palau has been essential to promote this project. They seem to have known each other all their lives...
MG: We've known each other for quite some time, living together...
LP: Since the 2008 Beijing Olympics, right?
MG: Yes, we lived together in Beijing for a long time, but if you like basketball, you have the benchmark for Laia.
LP: Although our realities are different, we both have a thank you to Girona. We have rooted here and we feel like doing things here. But we still have to make more friends...
MG: The thread that unites us is the desire for basketball, to improve the situation of male and female players so that they have a cooler experience, because it will have a very big impact on their future. We want the basketball environment to improve: if we improve the conditions of the coaches, they will be better coaches, they will be able to dedicate more time and consequently the boys and girls will improve.
Gasol and Palau trained in the 90s, he at CB Cornellà and she at Joventut Les Corts. The trivialities of then have served as a starting point now.
MG: In the 90s there was a lot of inertia from the Games (in Barcelona'92) and the investment in facilities. But for 30 years we have not looked at the facilities again... It is time to invest again in this, to give spaces to girls and boys to develop sports activities. The blocks of flats bring in a lot of money, but giving space to develop sport is just as important for society. We cannot continue to live with a deficit of facilities.
LP: One of the reasons why I believe in this is that I grew up in a quarry that had a finish in a first team in the Division of Honor. I wanted to be a senior, maybe he wanted to be Michael Jordan. I had no female references; my references were them (the Universitari players). Since I was a child, my job was to burn stages and one day be able to climb to the senior level. This pattern was very good for me and for me it is very valid.
MG: In comparison, now the conditions of the trainers have to be more and more professional. That it is not just a hobby for them, that they can continue to dedicate themselves to their passion.
LP: Basketball has evolved a lot, that there are two coaches per team, nutritionist, physical trainer, English trainer... There are many things that are taken into account now and not before. In my life no one told me anything about nutrition until I was about how many years old...
MG: We already do this and unify it in the two clubs so that the Uni girls have the same conditions. It must be so. Parents must also be helped to manage emotions that they experience and that may be difficult to understand, or the evolution of a girl and a boy within their progression as a person. It is about having tools to choose the one that works best. The clubs are constantly evolving, we do self-criticism, we maintain communication, to give better service to young people.
As elite athletes, Gasol and Palau agree on the need to instill values in young people through sport, and in their case, basketball.
LP: It is an incredible luck to have grown up with basketball, not because of the successes and trophies, but because of how we have been formed as people. It is basic to transmit well-understood solidarity, we have to collaborate for a goal... Basketball is dynamic, it has so much tactical, technical, and physical richness that it seems almost necessary for all of us to practice it.
MG: The values must be applied on a day-to-day basis, that the trainers value the children's effort, commitment, above having a talent and being selfish. Putting the group ahead of the individual is important. Values have more travel than a victory or winning a championship.
For these two referents, the training project is a way of giving back to basketball what it has given them.
LP: Basketball is our life, we have done everything around this sport. It has been the excuse to be people, to express ourselves through this. It is no longer what you earn, but how you work, what you give to life. It is our vehicle of life, which defines what time you get up, what you eat, where you live, who you interact with...
MG: It's like that, it's our environment, our day to day, what we are passionate about, and transmitting this to the little ones is a huge responsibility. They tell you: 'I want to be like you...'. Nope! Be yourself, enjoy to the fullest. There are difficult moments, but the group helps you and protects you to face challenges. There are always many small defeats, but never win; that the team, the improvement, keep growing, always be above.
If they had to give advice to boys and girls starting out in basketball, it would be...
LP: Entrégate to the maximum, that what the baloncesto will give you is insuperable.
MG: That advice sucks. It is the effort. When the slump comes and you face your fears, because we all have insecurities, the effort improves you and makes you accept yourself as a person. What's really cool about basketball is that you do it with a group, with a reference. You have to keep improving, you don't know where you're going to end up. I didn't want to be Michael Jordan because he wasn't much of a dreamer, but I was very clear that if he had someone in front of him, some bitch was going to come out to beat him.
