INTERNATIONAL WHEELCHAIR BASKETBALL FEDERATION

From the arrival in Toledo in the “Hotel” the nice surprises started. I could not believe we were going to sleep in a CASTLE!! An adapted castle, it was amazing, with 7 rooms completely accessible for wheelchairs, with a lot of space and big bathrooms. Amazing!

The second big surprise was to meet 21 girls younger than 22, 19 from all around the Spain and 2 from Italy. In many years spent in Spain I had never seen so many girls together in wheelchair basketball. Only 5 of them were from a club, all the others from “schools” of some clubs, like CAI Zaragoza or Bilbao. I realized most of them played in the “Scholar Tournament” which had been held in Spain in the past January.
It was really nice to start in this way, I could understand that ABAFE Sr made a great job preparing it and was starting expecting more surprises.
Thanks also to the “Fundacion Cruyff” which helped a lot, not only economically, but also on the court with Esther Eroles, the Coordinator of the Foundation.

To move from the castle to the training court, there was a 10 minutes bus trip with a minibus with elevator, really comfortable.
The schedule of the practices was completed and respected, no problem stopped it, neither the big warm during the days. The stadium was with 3 basketball courts and 6 baskets, plus a central main court plus 4 mini baskets. Probably the best option to make a camp.

To make it easy, me and Jose Miguel Lopez both decided to divide the 21 girls into two groups: one with 15 years and older and the other one with the younger ones.
We both started working on indivual skills in pushing and ball handling. We both worked in the small details like the way to keep the hands on the wheels, on how to feel the ball and how to manage the chair in the different situations.
Then we focused on the defense’s skills, starting from the one on one making a graduate pass to the 5 on 5 (faster with the olders).
Honestly from the first day we both had been surprised by the great answer from the most of the players, young and old ones. That’s a great news for the Spanish Wheelchair Basketball Federation: many of them have a great future in front of them. It’s a pity that no one of the Spanish Federation came to see that and realize that....
We worked also in the didactical progression for the offense trying to teach on the spacing rules: 2 on 1, 3 on 2, 4 on 3, 5 on 4. Passes, chair and ball handling skills were always introduced in a didactical progression between the exercices to help them and giving them more ideas.
We also explained them the importance of many exercices and how to make it good and why. I saw the most of the times the players don’t know why an exercice like the wave is important for learning the way to play and they don’t know the importance of the rules of that exercice. Fixing it, the players worked with more enthusiasm and also learned faster. I think the best thing was how the most of the players started thinking in what they were practicing and working on.

We made also some games mixing the groups at the end of the days and a game old versus young.

We had also two video sessions, the first one for the youngs was about some exercices of individual skills while for the olds it was about the final of Athens 2004 to show them how to transform on the court exercices like the waves, the shadow and the pick and roll ones.
The second video session was common and it was about the game they played the day before and showing them how they improved and which mistakes they still were doing. It was a nice one. They realized they had been learning a lot during those days.
There were 5 volunteers working in the shadow, preparing the breaks of the afternoon, helping the girls in any situation any, also for the health ones. Sonia, Esther, Victoria, Cristina and Nati, all Abafe sr members and players of the spanish women national team, the ones who worked really hard and very good to make it possible and without any kind of problems. Every problem and every small detail had been cared wonderfully. What a fantastic team!!

The enthusiasm reigned during the 4 days even if the warm and the hard work.
That enthusiasm showed also many really good players, the future for Spain if the Federation trust and work on them, not leaving Abafe Sr alone in doing that. This camp had been also a school for some girls as they also learned how make by themselves some personal things without the help of the parents. Great job by the 5 volunteers for that.

I’m positively surprised: being the first time they organized something like that, they made it wonderfully, caring all the details and being always ready to solve everything. They paid the best attention to the care and the safe of the players and no one could complain for anything. The food was great and a lot, the water too. The fun, more, for the players but also for the coaches.

I really hope this camp has a continuity for many many and many years. It can be very important for Spain but also as example for many other countries (Italy i.e.), doesn’t matter local NOWB doesn’t cooperate.

Thanks Jose Miguel, you had been a great job mate.
Thanks Esther Eroles, your support was really important.
Thanks to all the players: your enthusiasm was a great push.
A really special thank to Esther, Sonia, Victoria, Nati and Cristina: you made it wonderful and really special.

Matteo Feriani
IWBF Europe Tutor