Maria Planas will enter the FIBA ​​Hall of Fame

by time news

BarcelonaMaria Planas, the great pioneer of Catalan basketball, will enter the Hall of Fame of the International Federation (FIBA) on November 30. The event, which will serve to highlight the work of legendary figures, will be held at the Patrick Baumann Basketball House in Mies (Switzerland). The coach will share the spotlight with Geno Auriemma (the United States), Antonio Barbosa (Brazil) and Milan Ciga Vasojevic (Serbia), who will receive a posthumous distinction.

“My beginnings were not easy because I started playing basketball in the 50s, when the handicap of families was very important. We were five girls at home, but the only one who practiced any sport was me, the crazy one in the house. I loved basketball with a passion. My mother was old and conservative and she started putting impediments on me. I had to hide my kit bag outside the house so I could go to training without being scolded. One day I had the bad luck to hurt my knee and the wound got infected. When I got home, a sister helped me heal her, but when she put hot water on me, the scream I made was so loud that my mother heard me and discovered me”, remembers Planas.

When he was fourteen, Planas signed up to play basketball at PEM, a club in Guinardó in Barcelona. The organization was very involved socially in the neighborhood, where many girls did not have the means to practice sports. “I chose basketball because it was one of the activities offered by the local parish, where we used to go with a group of friends, and I was immediately enthusiastic. Years later, they still thank me”, he remembers.

“The Picadero tried to sign me, but they wouldn’t let me go at home. I don’t hold a grudge. The first thing that comes to mind when I take stock are the friendships I made during that time. From time to time we still meet to reminisce about our experiences. The players of our time put a lot of effort into it and valued every training session to improve,” she says. In that club in the Planas neighborhood she met Eduard Portela, former president of the ACB, who ended up becoming her husband. Then as women, once married, we withdrew from everything. But the house fell on me. They recommended that I go back to basketball to distract myself. My husband suggested that I coach the girls’ team in which I had played, and I accepted the challenge. I could afford it, in part, due to the fact that I am not a mother”, says the former coach, who was born five days before the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War.

Advanced methods at the time

Planas’ methods were revolutionary. “I liked to empower them to make their decisions on the court, and this forced them to think constantly, to understand what was happening and not to repeat the same thing over and over again. The situations were not closed”, explains the Catalan, who the world of basketball changed his outlook on life. “Now I quickly detect when a person has played sports or not, because they have a nobler way of doing things. Sports teach you how to win and lose,” he says.

Planas ended up being the most successful female basketball coach in the state. From 1978 to 1985 she was the Spanish coach. Many years later, she is still the only woman to hold this position. “I’m happy, but I would have really liked to have a successor. I had to overcome many insecurities. Those who wanted to take my position did not hesitate to put me in the way and even asked for my removal. With disdain, they told me: “If you’ve managed to become a coach, I can do it too”. I had to have a lot of psychology as a coach; when there were tensions in the team, I organized dinners at my house and invited them all to relax the atmosphere”, he remembers.

Planas has actively collaborated in recent years with the Debate Group, an initiative promoted by the Catalan Basketball Federation that periodically brings together experts from the world of basketball to debate different methodological issues. Her message to generations of young players is clear: “Never give up to achieve your dreams.”

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