Vigo, the capital of women’s basketball

Alba Torrens (Binisalem, 1989) returned to Vigo, the city where she took the first steps to become one of the best basketball players on the continent. The Balearic striker was in Light Blue between 2006 and 2009 and made her debut in the women’s league with Miguel Méndez as coach.

The two, who were together in Yekaterinburg, are now meeting again in the Spanish team, which is concentrated in Vigo in the first phase of preparations for Eurobasket. Méndez, the current coach, acts as host and conductor at the Navia court, the stage where Celta returned to basketball from Vigo in the elite of women’s basketball just a few weeks ago.

Alba left Vigo at the age of 20 to conquer the world of basketball — six Euroleagues, a European and an Olympic silver medal lead her incomparable record — but three decades later she has not forgotten her sporting roots: “When I landed on Tuesday I had a very special feeling , all the memories came to my mind, they are all very good. I have a very special affection for Vigo and all his people”.

With Celta, he won his first title at the club level, the Jaca Junior National in 2007, and led by Miguel Méndez, he began to collect matches in elite women’s basketball: «I started my career with Miguel and he has many numbers so that he ends with him. He is one of the people who helped me the most and who continues to help me, who teaches me to play basketball and who is an example to me. For me, it’s lucky that I can share so many moments with him,” commented the striker on her third day in Vigo.

Miguel Méndez, the coach, is not only happy to be back together with Alba and the whole team, but his face sums up better than anything the pride he feels in hosting his city: «I’m delighted, and so are they. They are surprised by the weather and I hope that they will come to Vigo more than once, not only when it is time for the Christmas lights, but that they will take advantage of it 365 days a year”. Miguel, the former coach of Celta before embarking on a successful career around the world, did not want to forget Vigo’s role in women’s basketball: «Vigo is one of the cradles of Spanish women’s basketball for me. The team hasn’t been here long and I’m happy.” Next Thursday and Friday, Alba and Miguel will be able to experience again what it means to play a basketball game on this side of the Atlantic.

Thinking about the pre-Olympics

On a sporting level, Miguel Méndez leads the team in transition, with a lot of movement. “It’s a change in the cycle that many young players entered, people from the quintet, the first rotation. It was an important change, with the handicap of injuries in a position (pivot) in which we are not very strong physically and athletically,” he commented before setting the fight at the European Championship for a place in the pre-Olympic as the most realistic goal: “You have to be careful. The goal of the pre-Olympic games can be realistic, he said.The top five classified in the continental competition will have access to that stage that can lead to Paris.

Alba Torrens, the team’s franchise player, points to the game-by-game theory: «We are coming from a summer without competition, and Eurobasket is a difficult and very difficult challenge. We are currently focused on day by day, to prepare in the best possible way, aware of the weight of the championship. We will see where we will be, there is a desire to work and a lot of enthusiasm, but we are realistic about the challenge. If finally, and against all odds, the team with Galicians Raquel Carrera and Paula Ginzo in the composition does something important at the European Championship, they will remember that it all started in Vigo. Like the success story of Alba and Miguel.