Miguel Méndez (Vigo, 1967) He has no holes on his shelf to locate the titles he has won in almost a quarter of a century on the benches. It all started with Celta in 2001. Then came the stage with the Rivas basketball, the Italian Schio, the Russian UMMaterinburg UMMC and the Spanish team, “An award that came to me soon”. In 2021, at a difficult time, he knew how to successfully command until the 2023 Eurobasket floor, where only Belgium stopped the Galician board. As in the JJOO, a black beast to defeat in the next European event.
This year, with 'mono' of club basketball, he enrolled in Fenerbahce, which he led to the top in Türkiye. Assumed the club before some playoffs And, as always that he has proposed, he managed to get his message among his players in record time. He hasn't had to stop it. His mind is now focused on leading a stage of renewal in 'La Familia' female, a cycle that begins with the EurobaskeT that starts on June 18, which is followed by the 2026 World Cup in Germany and will end with the Angeles 2028.
The big challenge? To be equipment. In which they participate from the everlasting Alba Torrens to Iyana Martín or Awa Fam. A diverse nucleus, which compensates for the absences that can occur, such as the last hour of Maite Cazorla; But with the common interest of competing and doing it, without fissures, under the concept of 'the family' that has given so good historical result to Spanish basketball.
Miguel Méndez, during the friendly female preparation match for the Eurobasket, in Inca (Mallorca). / EFE
How do you not be able to go home as much as one would like?
Well, he gets along, how are you going to take? Bad. But we'll return soon.
You are enlisted in an important project like Fenerbahçe, which will compatible with that of the selection, how do you manage so much mental activity? Do you manage to rest?
Yes, it is resting. This is work and depends on the person. I am very clear about what my personal life is and what work is. There are a few hours like the ones you have in your environment, a few hours a day you dedicate to it, and the rest of your life is something else. You have to be disciplined, especially when you are away from home, as is my case. I think the experience helps me to get along.
And in just six days you won a league with the Turkish team. How can you bring Fenerbahçe to fruition in a phase as complicated as the 'playoffs' for the title?
Well, I consider it an anecdote. It was the third offer in just under two years that arrived by Mr. Kemal Danabaş, responsible for the Women's Basketball Section. Actually, the project as such is for next year, but the petition thus arose during the final phase of the Euroleague. The team was played after the tie in the Turkish Cup against Mersin. They fell into semifinals, a very hard stick. And then they asked me, without commitment, to advance my arrival and try to help the team compete in the final for the league. I consider it more an anecdote than anything else, because I had a very little time to train. It was more a clinic than a training. Completely different from the work that I am used to. But very nice to do and, someday, when I write my memories, this situation will have a special section.
I consider being a coach, a gift to be at the tip of the pyramid where so many coaches work throughout the year so that these players are what they are. To be able to give the final push, a gift
In those memories you are talking about, will it tell how Miguel Méndez del Celta dreamed of being a Spanish coach?
No, I have never thought about that. I have always had my feet on the floor. I have always received everything about the Spanish Federation as a gift, because I think it is. It is true that the gift came very fast, because I started training in female in 2000 and already in 2001 I was working with training selections, with the first U-18 team. That gift came to me very soon. I spent many years in training teams and, as a consequence of working outside the country and being lucky enough to be in several of the best European teams, when there is a relay on the bench – which has always been very well busy – because my name came out. I consider it a luck, a gift to be at the tip of the pyramid where so many coaches work throughout the year so that these players are what they are. To be able to give the final push.
That basis of the pyramid you are talking about is where are the lower categories of the selection that have achieved so many successes. Have you normalized winning?
Well, I think not. We know a lot what it costs. It is true that with the training players, the work that is done both in the Spanish team and in the rest of the autonomous federations, is to give a lot of and very good competition to girls from very soon … They are reference. Maybe, together with France in Europe. The players begin to compete and good results appear in all training selections. But it is true that at a professional level it costs a lot to be there and do what the Spanish team has been doing for the last 15 years: being constantly there, sometimes winning and other times not, but constantly in the top positions. That is very difficult to do and I think he speaks a lot about the good organization of the leagues, the good organization of clubs, of all the work that so many managers and so many coaches and so many sponsors do.
The Spanish coach Miguel Méndez, during the preparation of the Eurobasket. / EFE
At club level we have lived a very beautiful season, with teams such as Baxi Ferrol reaching the Eurocup or Jairis final achieving a historic Queen's Cup.
It has been a very long and very hard season. This has led many teams to have the opportunity to shine. All, over so many months, go through better and worse moments that have to do with states of form, with specific injuries and moments. Getting to the specific moments always 100% is very complicated. Start well to be in good position in international competitions, getting well to the Cup in March and getting well to the final of May is not easy to do. This has caused different realities to have appeared, different teams that were doing very well at certain times. I believe that Baxi in Europe is a deed, it has competed very well in all parties, including the final. Jairis in the Cup has been incredible, because they have won all good teams, playing very good basketball. And the League final … Valencia has recovered its level, but its rival, Zaragoza, has not made it easy. All this talks about the good health of Spanish basketball.
I like the type of player to whom everyone continues for what he does every day, how he eats, how he gets up, what he does in the previous training, which he does later, how they take care of them, the rest hours, how he works with the fisios and recuperators and how he does it without having to say it
Some of the protagonists of these deeds are with you in the selection. What role do the captains play in your group?
I have always tried to support me in that type of leaders. Players who do not need to talk much. I like the type of player to whom everyone continues for what he does every day, for how he eats, how he gets up, what he does in the previous training, which he does later, how they take care of themselves, the rest hours, how he works with the fisios and recuperators and how he does it without having to say it. I believe that in this case, both Alba (Torrens) and those that come from behind, those that form that nucleus, such as Maite Cazorla, María Conde or Raquel Carrera. They are fundamental for all the young players who are arriving.
That will be one of the great values of this selection: the youth spark.
I think that if something brings this is this: energy, and very positive. That unconsciousness is very good. It is true that, at the same time, you cannot ask for regularity, which is what a team needs to compete. Because it is a very long championship and there are many obstacles along the way. It is the least you can ask a teenager. There, to contribute regularity, it is where that core we talked about before. A group of players who are in their fullness, helped by the veteran players, who will surely pull the car.
The team is very important, many say it, but then with their actions and with their way of behaving they do not help a team to be. It is very important that the team is more than the sum of individualities
You have always made it clear that the key to everything for you is the team.
In the world of sport there are many phrases made that everyone uses, but that does not always be put into practice, including players. The team is very important, many say it, but then with their actions and with their way of behaving they do not help a team to be. It is very important that the team is more than the sum of individualities. It is another phrase made, but I think it is very easy to be a team when things are going very well. Not so much when the slope is steep. We will find many difficulties along the way and we have to be aware that we have to travel that way together. Therefore, for me, the leading player is not the one who goes ahead, or not only the one who is teaching the way, but the one behind pushing others to help them upload.
What has this selection of the last great tournaments learned, such as games or Eurobasket?
That each game is different. That we are going to find the best in Europe. That when the players compete for their country, representing their country, they are much better than competing in clubs. We will find very talented equipment and others with a lot of energy. The Belgium selection is an example in this. It looks like the Spain from 2013 to 2020, that there were players who did not shine in their clubs, players who did not appear in the best teams in Europe, but that in the national team, added to each other, knowing very well, played by heart. There are other selections such as France, which are pure physical and talent; Others such as Germany, very large, with many WNBA and dangerous players. Each game will be different, and this is what the competition teaches: that you have to be every day. And it will be the competition that puts us on our site.
