Interview with Sikerkovács physical education teacher – Dunakanyar Region

Márta Ibrányi, a former physical education teacher at the Széchenyi István Primary School in Dunakesz, even in her retired years, with unbroken enthusiasm, immense professional experience and humility, helps the preparation and successful performance of young people devoted to basketball. Their most recent joint success with the amateur girls’ basketball team of Radnót Miklós High School in the national finals of the Student Olympiad II. place. During his long career, the highly popular excellent specialist reached the national finals of the Student Olympiad with nine teams. We talked to Márta Ibrányi, the successful physical education teacher and coach.

• Congratulations on another fantastic success! What path led to the second step of the podium?
• I also thank you for the congratulations on behalf of the girls, who have deservedly earned the love pouring out to them. How did you go about winning the silver medal? It was not easy, as the best 16 teams made it to the national finals. They all entered the field hoping for the ultimate victory. We played in four groups to advance. I can proudly say that our girls won all three matches.
• How was the continuation after the confident victories?
• As group leader, we played against Szombathely in the match played to reach the final four. In this match as well, as in our previous matches, we used a full-court attack, which allowed us to score the ball many times and score easy baskets. We won this match with a convincing advantage and entered the top four, where the team of another big city, Miskolc, was waiting for us. At the beginning of the meeting, we were a little scared because the team was played by very tall girls and they used a zone defense. But fortunately, we “collected” ourselves and applied our own game, scored a lot of balls, scored a lot of baskets and won easily.
• Which team did they play against for the gold medal in the national final?
• Our opponent was the team of the Nikola Tesla School of Serbian Nationality in Budapest, which competes every year for the brightest medal in the Student Olympiad. We were very prepared against them. At the end of the first half, we were leading, but then they turned it on and we lost by 10 points. I consider it a very nice achievement that the Radnóti high school team ended the student Olympics with a silver medal.

• What is the secret of the team’s success, whose performance can you highlight?
• In my eyes, the girls were real heroes because they fought through six games in two and a half days, just six. Two of our players were also included in the All-Star team. Fanni Kecskeméti, who was the engine of the team, who drove and drove her teammates, also scored a lot of points. The other awarded player is Anna Juhász, who was the team’s most successful player. But everyone was needed to succeed. Our greatest virtue was that we operated as a real team, our game was not defined by one player, but by all five people who were on the pitch. In addition to the two little girls already mentioned, I would also like to highlight Blanka Kecskeméti, Nóri Benkő, Tinetta Temesvári, and Anna Regős.
• Who or who were your helpers on the long road to success?
• For many years now, my biggest helper is Ádám Péczeli, the excellent physical educator at Miklós Gymnázium in Radnót, who is always by our side, listens to our every thought, and solves all the tasks that we need to focus on the game. I am grateful to fate for bringing us together many years ago, and we have been able to work together ever since.

Imre Vetési