Female Team Leader in the first interview to the CAB Site

Coach João Pedro granted the CAB's Official Site his first interview as a female team coach. In an open and sincere conversation, the senior leader spoke of the next season, of the squad, of the start of work, of the objectives and of the fears about the coming time. Here is registered the conversation with the 'new' coach: What made you accept the invitation to lead the women's CAB team? First of all, I've missed training, since I've been away from these main coaching roles for a while. Then the fact that I was completely involved in the club's dynamics, given my role as Vice President President for Sports Management, which clearly gives me a renewed spirit of mission to help the club at a critical stage in its history. Do you see this new mission as a challenge? Yes, a great challenge, given the youth of the squad and the whole conjuncture in which we live at this moment in our lives. What motivates you the most when it comes? The challenge of being able to prepare a set of very young players so that they are very quickly able to compete equally with the other much more experienced players of the other League teams. And what scares you the most? I am scared of everything that has nothing to do with basketball, namely financial difficulties and the issue of travel, which will be decisive. A new era to postpone games would be very damaging to the goals of the team and the club. We have an image to defend at national level and it cannot be the issue of trips staining the name of the CAB in national competition. What are the goals that will guide the team's work? Work hard to win games. What ideas and principles will try to convey to athletes? Seriousness, commitment and professionalism in the daily work of the working group will have to be the guidelines of a common goal, which is to win games. There must be a great sense of commitment to the goal of overcoming each athlete. I know it's not easy to train the hours this team normally works, so these athletes will have to organize their daily lives very well so that, at training time, they are there body and soul. Do you have any definite ideas for the establishment of the squad? I already have an idea who might be part of the working group, I have spoken to some of the most experienced athletes and I have asked the president to present the project to each of them. Now, it will all depend on who the athletes who will be interested in joining me in this new challenge will be. When are you going to get the jobs off the team? We'll start work on September 2nd at 9:00. Will the pre-season work be limited to the female squad or will it integrate members of other ranks? The idea is to start the first week of training with all the athletes who will be part of the senior team and the satellite team. After this observation period, we will divide the group and the two teams will work separately. However, the idea will be conveyed that the group will not be closed. Throughout the season, athletes will be able to work below or above according to their evolution, because the basic principles of work of both teams will be practically equal, specifically with regard to defensive and offensive concepts. Of course, the senior team will have some particularities according to the characteristics of some more influential athletes in the defensive and offensive process of the team. What role does coach Ricardo Montes play in the technical team he leads? Ricardo, like me, is involved in all the dynamics of the club, also being my managing partner. He will be the coach of the satellite team, who will participate in the championship below the Women's League, which is the First Division, and will play a very important role in the preparation of younger athletes. Whenever possible, and according to your availability, you will help me in daily training sessions with functions to be combined between the two of us. As for the scouting work, which many hours takes to do, it will be an area where we need help, so we will have to find someone at the club who supports us in this task. She has two daughters who are athletes from CAB training schools. As a senior team coach, what influence do you want to have on how you work in the club's Formation layers, where your daughters and so many other athletes are also integrated? The main influence I wish to have is in the sense that all the coaches of the club transmit the idea that, without working with intensity and seriousness, one does not reach the highest level. In the next season, the women's training of the CAB will see return to their high-quality coaches such as Faty Freitas (sub-14F) and Luisa Montes (sub-16F). Do you think, along with Ricardo and with you, the club could take an important step in preparing the next generation of CAB seniors? The CAB has always been a training-oriented club, but we all have to understand that to have athletes trained in the club competing in senior teams, it is not enough to like the training. It is necessary to work in the right way and this goes through, from very early on, transmitting to our athletes that daily work must be done very intensely and that team training does not arrive to get there. We need to get the athletes the message of the importance of training alone for many hours in what they are weaker. With the creation of the CAB training center project, called 'School of Champions', which is led by Prof. Fátima Freitas, and with the help of the most experienced coaches of the club, we can help athletes with more potential to evolve in a more consistent way. We're on the right track and I hope we can all make the CAB a good basketball player school.