On October 2, Elisa Aguilar (Madrid, 1976) became the first woman to preside over the Spanish Basketball Federation (FEB) in its 100-year history. After a legendary career, with 222 international matches behind him, and extensive academic training that he combined with his professional career, Aguilar quickly moved to the offices and became one of the trusted people of Jorge Garbajosa, the predecessor of she. Already as president, affable and with clear ideas, she received La Vanguardia last Thursday in her new office, near Madrid’s Chamartín station.
What feelings do you have after a month in office?
Very positive, although since I was elected everything has been hectic.
It was a unanimous choice, does it give you more peace of mind to work?
You always like to have that unanimity in the Assembly because in the end it means the support of all of Spanish basketball. But it was not only at the time of the vote, it was in the various previous meetings in which I presented my ideas and my projects when people really agreed with my way of working and we got started.
Is being president going as you expected?
I have been close to Jorge (Garbajosa) for a long time and I knew what this role was about, but until you feel the responsibility you don’t know how you will react. Yes, it’s going as I expected. Also, it hasn’t been a drastic change.
So, can it be considered a continuation of Garbajosa?
I am on Jorge’s team and I have been very close to him in all the decisions he has made. His stage can only be classified as excellent but now mine begins. I am going to promote the things that I have seen that have been done well, but I also want to contribute my ideas and mark my path, which will be none other than building bridges with everyone and making everyone feel involved. Naturally, I want to put my mark.
After 100 years of history, you are the first woman to preside over the FEB….
I am very proud and I understand that being the first woman has generated more media impact, it seems normal and logical to me.
Doesn’t it bother you?
I am happy because I know why they have chosen me, and it is not because of a gender issue but because of meritocracy. The people who voted for me are aware of my experience, my training and my career as a competition director and that is what comforts me the most.
There are 34 Olympic sports and you are only the second woman to preside over a Federation.
As women we would like there to be more female presidents but each one has their own particular circumstances and if there have not been more it will be because they have not won. I think basketball can be a good turning point in this sense, I think my choice says a lot about our sport.
What does it say?
The election has put on the table that basketball lives up to what society is demanding, an avant-garde spirit that is essential to continue moving towards the normality that equality should be.
Is the news because of your choice as a woman a good or bad thing?
I take it on a very positive level. First, because in 100 years I am the first and there always has to be a first time and, second, because of the message that is sent from sport that it is not a question of gender but rather that they have seen me as a trained and prepared person. It is a motivational message for all women who are now starting out in management.
One of your main objectives is to increase the number of licenses, how can this be achieved?
You have to go where everything begins in sport, to the schools. From there, collaborate with the regional federations, which are key in their territories to start basketball, and with the educational institutions, with which we are already scheduling meetings in the different Communities so that basketball is the first thing that reaches the young people in school yards.
Capturing the attention of young people must be increasingly complicated…
We have to go further, we have to bring sport closer to families, let them go to the pavilions and discover the good atmosphere that is always felt in a basketball game. Because no matter how much the ball reaches the child, he has a cell phone and an iPad in his house. Everyone must be involved: parents, cousins, grandparents, brothers…, so that everyone feels part of the basketball family.
Did this happen in your case?
My family was soccer fans and I started playing soccer with the boys until, given the physical differences, my mother told me to change sports and there was basketball. If not, who knows what I would be doing now but I was, and that is why I defend that it is important to be present at the different stages of training and within families.
Fighting against football in Spain sounds like an impossible mission…
We have to focus on growing basketball, I think it is a white label sport, everyone has good things to say about us. And that is because we are doing it well, both the FEB and the clubs and the different institutions.
Has the media explosion of women’s football surprised you? Are you envious?
We work to make basketball more visible. What the footballers have achieved in the World Cup is historic and I believe that everything that goes well in other sports, regardless of their gender, has a positive impact on ours. We dedicate ourselves to making our way, perhaps with smaller but firmer steps.
But women’s basketball has been achieving success for many years and has even more female licenses than soccer…
Soccer is the king sport in Spain and that is true. The media coverage is always much greater. But we will continue working to invest in our sport and have more media relevance.
What is your opinion of the Rubiales case?
These are behaviors that are outside the values ??that we defend, not only in sport but also in society.
Has all that pushed you to establish new protocols?
We have not started any new ones but we have reinforced them. We want basketball to be a safe space, which is essential to be able to leave our children playing basketball with the certainty that nothing like this will happen.
Before finishing, it is necessary to ask him about the future of Sergio Scariolo, whose contract ends next year.
He knows perfectly well that we are very happy with his work. Not only has he given us a lot at the medal level and he has achieved something unimaginable like putting us at number one in the FIBA ??ranking, but he also has a line of work that puts his stamp on the lower categories. We’ll talk to him when it’s time, but he doesn’t like to do it in advance and I respect that. He must focus on the Pre-Olympic, which I hope can be held in Valencia. It will be decided on the 27th and we are optimistic.
Does not having an Olympic place yet generate instability for either men or women?
There is a part that is management, in which we try to give the teams the best conditions so that they only worry about playing, but stability must be independent of the results that occur later.
