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 played and an extensive academic background that he combined with his professional career, Aguilar quickly moved to the offices and became one of the trusted people of Jorge Garbajosa, the his predecessor Already as president, affable and with clear ideas, she received La Vanguardia on Thursday in her new office, near Madrid’s Chamartín station.
How do you feel after a month in office?
Very positive, although everything has been frantic since I was elected.
It was a unanimous choice, does it give you more peace of mind to work?
You always like to have this unanimity in the assembly, because in the end it means the support of all Spanish basketball. But it wasn’t just at the time of the vote, it was in the various previous meetings in which I presented my ideas and my projects that people really agreed with my way of working and we got started.
Is being president being as 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 is being as expected. Also, it hasn’t been a drastic change.
Therefore, can we consider her a continuationist of Garbajosa?
I am from Jorge’s team and I have been very close to him in all the decisions he has made. His stage can only be described as excellent, but now mine begins. I will promote the things 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 to build bridges with everyone and for everyone to feel involved. Naturally, I want to put my mark on it.
After 100 years of history, you are the first woman to chair 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 I was chosen, 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 director of competitions, and that is what comforts me the most.
There are 34 Olympic sports and you are only the second woman to chair a federation.
As women, we would like there to be more presidents, but each one has their own particular circumstances and if there haven’t been more, it’s because they haven’t won. I think that basketball can be a good turning point in this regard, I think that 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 asking for, a fundamental avant-garde spirit to continue moving towards the normality that should be equality.
That he has been in the news because of his choice as a woman is it good or bad?
I take it in a very positive way. First, because in 100 years I am the first and there must always be a first time, and second, because of the message sent from sport, that it is not a question of gender, but that I have been seen as a educated and prepared person. It is a motivational message for all women who are now starting in management.
One of its main goals is to increase the number of licenses, how can this be achieved?
You have to go where everything starts in sport, in the schools. From there, collaborate with the autonomous federations, which are key in their territories to start basketball, and with the educational institutions, with which we are already scheduling meetings in the communities so that basketball is the first to reach the young people in schoolyards.
Capturing the attention of young people must be increasingly complicated…
We need to go further, we need to bring the sport closer to families, so that they go to the pavilions and discover the good atmosphere that is always breathed in a basketball game. Because no matter how much the child gets the ball, he has a cell phone and an iPad at home. Everyone needs to be involved: parents, cousins, grandparents, siblings… everyone feels part of the basketball family.
Was it so in your case?
My family were football players and I started playing football with the boys until, due to 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 there, and that is why I advocate that it is important to be present in the various stages of formation and within families.
Fighting football in Spain sounds like an impossible mission…
We have to focus on growing basketball, I think it’s a white label sport, everyone has good words for us. And that is because we are doing well, both the FEB and the clubs and institutions.
Has the media explosion of women’s football surprised you? Does he envy you?
We work so that basketball has more visibility. What female footballers have achieved in the World Cup is historic and I believe that everything that goes well in other sports, regardless of gender, has a positive impact on ours. We are dedicated to making our way, perhaps with smaller, but firmer steps.
But women’s basketball has been successful for many years and has even more women’s licenses than football…
Football is the king sport in Spain and that’s right. Media coverage is always much greater. But we will continue to work to invest in our sport and have more media relevance.
What opinion does the Rubiales case deserve?
These are behaviors that are outside the values ??we defend, not only in sport, but also in society.
Has all this pushed them to establish new protocols?
We have not started any new ones, but we have strengthened them. We want basketball to be a safe space, which is a fundamental thing 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 in terms of medals and achieved something unimaginable, like putting us at number one in the FIBA ??rankings, but he also has a line of work that leaves his mark in the lower categories. We’ll talk to him when he plays, but he doesn’t like to do it on time and I respect that. The focus must be on the Pre-Olympics, which I hope can be held in Valencia. It is decided on the 27th and we are optimistic.
Does it cause instability not yet having an Olympic place in 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 care about playing, but the stability must be independent of the results that come later.
