Roberto Íñiguez addressed the media after the league title for Perfumerías Avenida in La Fonteta. These were his words:
«Congratulations to Valencia Basket. It has been a basketball party, it is very important that in women’s basketball this happens more. It has been a pleasure to play with this environment, I always prefer to play with this environment. (…) It was a close game. They have returned in the second part and we have had a mistake. They played with courage, they attacked and it was an even ending. We have been able to save that small difference of 3 or 4 points and it has been a burden for Valencia Basket. It has been a long, hard, marathon season, fucked up for everyone. Extremely exhausting. I am very worn out. I even dare to say that I will need part of the summer to think about what I am going to do.
She is a born competitor (Copper). And this is about competition. There are many matches that you can win without competing at the highest level, but in these matches… the competitors come out. She always goes out. At the last minute, she was throwing up on the bench. She has thrown everything and I had to get Leo out. In the last 12 seconds she told me ‘take me out because I have to defend Allen’. She is a player that I have been following for 4 or 5 years, when no one knew her. When I spoke to the club, not being able to renew Tiffany Hayes, they didn’t know who she was. She wasn’t a starter yet in Chicago but I liked her because she was a competitor. They are players who are better every year, who want to improve. She had never played in the Euroleague, she had always played in mediocre teams in Europe, but one year she got injured and, instead of resting, she stayed with an assistant university team to find out how she worked. Kah listens to you with her eyes every time we do a video or team meeting. She transmits a lot to the rest. If this aunt or Silvisa does this, how can the others not do it? I’ve told her, I’m very proud to be her coach. I always learn from good players, so it has also been an important year of learning for me.
It has been a very difficult year for Kah. I don’t know if I’m going to discover a secret now, but he told me: ‘Coach, I’m almost certainly not going to play in Europe next year, but if I play anywhere it will be for you at Avenida. Tell me how much money you have and I’ll think about it’ (laughs) I’ve told him ‘little’ and he’s told me ‘you tell me’.
It is an obligation (to win the league) because we want it to be an obligation, but I am going to insist on a detail that is rarely talked about. We have beaten a team that has, in its first squad, twice the budget that we do. And this is a demonstrable reality, with numbers. Whoever denies it, lies. The obligation was for Valencia Basket. Another thing is how that money is invested or what it pays, what it stops paying or if the players ask for more money. What I know is that the players who come to Avenida, when they leave, do so earning a lot of money on other teams. And I am very proud. And now Emese Hof is going to leave, many are going to leave. And we’re going to have to rebuild everything, next year it’s going to be even more difficult. It’s been many years now and you have to have the energy and passion to face this. I will be very honored for this.
Fasoula has grown with me because I have been her coach, but she has grown with her work. Because he wanted. Now, Mariella and I have hit each other, huh. We have hit each other a lot until she has understood what the path is. If you want to grow and improve, there is a price to pay. Forever. That price must be willing to pay it. From the comfort is not improved. If I tell you the contract he has this year, you’ll freak out”
Photo: FEB
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