The Endesa Women's League 2022-23 is presented in society for a new and exciting season

MADRID, 27 Sep. (EUROPA PRESS) -

The Endesa Women's League presented its 2022-23 season at Endesa's headquarters in Madrid, a competition that will start on October 5 and which has a large line-up thanks to the return to the league of top-level Spanish players such as Alba Torrens, who has reinforced Valencia Basket.

The president of the Spanish Basketball Federation (FEB), Jorge Garbajosa, acknowledged being excited about the new campaign. "You get excited, because you listen to the players talk about the growth of the league, the structures of the clubs, the competitiveness, that ten of the 12 players of the national team have returned to the league and that is the most beautiful thing they can do for you. say as a Federation and that is thanks to the work of the clubs", he assured.

Garbajosa pointed out that this feeling "is not for complacency", but rather is "the stimulus to continue working so that this grows", and reaffirmed the "commitment" of the FEB, which valued what has been achieved in recent months with the lower categories of both the men's and women's teams.

"This has been the most successful summer for the Federation, but also for any European federation in all time", said Garbajosa, who also took the opportunity to present a gold medal to the CEO of Endesa, José Bogas, as thanks for the eleven years that the company has been collaborating with the organization.

The event was presented by former player Marta Fernández, and was attended by Spanish basketball legends María Planas, Margarita 'Wonny' Geuer, Anna Montañana and Laia Palau. "It is important to take a look at the past, because we always have to look at the past to assess who we are today in the present and where we want to go in the future," Fernández explained.

Laia Palau, recently retired, and after holding the position of Team Manager of the senior women's team, is also the sports director of UNI Girona. As her goals with her club, she marks "business as usual".

"It means being the little brother that annoys the elders, trying to be in the finals, trying to compete for titles, qualify for the Euroleague and consolidate ourselves as a Euroleague team," said Palau, who sets ambitious goals for this season.

Regarding Spanish women's basketball, although she recognizes the growth, she assures that "it can always be improved", focusing on "a very important part that is the issue of visibility", since the current one "is not enough".

The former player pointed out that "they already do the work every day on the track" and now "you just have to accompany them a little better." "Thanks to social networks and the millions of platforms, we already go out much more. We know where we come from, we work to improve structures," she explained.

One of the big names of the season is Alba Torrens, who returns to Spain to play for Valencia Basket, with whom she has "suffered for many years", although she also "enjoyed being a teammate in the national team".

Another of those present was Anna Montañana, former player and current coach of Lointek Gernika Bizkaia. Her experience on the track seems to be something very positive when it comes to directing, although she "has to complement herself with more things".

"Former players and former players who end up being coaches have a more instantaneous connection with the player because we have been in the situations they are in now," said Montañana, who has made a career on both the men's and women's basketball benches.

The Valencian comments that she has always seen "male and female in the same way". "That's why I also like to transmit that open mentality to see both in the same way. I train now in the same way that I could train last year in Argentina. The way of addressing it may be somewhat different but I would like us not to we set ourselves limits for training male or female", he highlighted.

To his players, "the first thing" he asks is that they "put it in," he joked. "Everything accelerates in the preseason, but above all being able to make a team, to have no limits, them individually and us to have ambitious challenges, and to compete on a day-to-day basis," she said before what will be her first season as head coach in the elite of Spanish women's basketball.

The only female coach that the team has had so far, María Planas, stressed that basketball has "evolved a lot" since her time. "Now you see the women's teams play and you enjoy it. Also, in the current league there are more players who have been out and are here again, I liked this because the league is more competitive and more enjoyable," she commented.

"In those times the economic means were not what they are now, we had to look for pavilions to train, but in the years in which I was a coach there were good players and good teams, although perhaps there was not the power that there is now because the training sessions are much stronger, more hours to shoot and perfect and it shows, but I recognize that women's basketball has currently taken a big step," she explained.

Former player 'Wonny' Geuer recalled her gold in the 1993 European Championship in "an incredible championship", and took the opportunity to "repeat" how proud she is of her children Willy, Juancho and Andrea Hernangómez. "The proudest thing I am about them is that they are good people and we always tell them to enjoy themselves, because they are many hours and they make us enjoy others," she said.

The CEO of Endesa, José Bogas, welcomed the "many years" that his company has been "working with Spanish basketball", including "four with women's basketball". "This year, in addition to the European category in the absolute category, there have been eight medals in the training categories. I am here listening to the legends of Spanish basketball and we are delighted," he declared.

"It is an increasingly competitive league, where we have enjoyed the playoffs, the Copa de la Reina, where Perfumerías Avenida has prevailed, such as Cadi, Zaragoza, Girona, Valencia and many others that are preparing and playing better every day", concluded.

Players from all the Endesa Women's League teams were present at the event, except for the two Canarian teams, as they were unable to travel due to weather conditions. Among others, the international players Silvia Domínguez (Perfumerías Avenida), Alba Torrens (Valencia Basket), María Araujo (SPAR Girona) or the young Begoña de Santiago (Movistar Estudiantes), who was proclaimed European Under-20 champion this summer.