ESP – Spain reign over for Pérez as Hernández takes over women’s team

MADRID (2010 FIBA World Championship for Women) – Spain will have a new coach at the 2010 FIBA World Championship for Women following the announcement that José Ignacio Hernández has replaced Evaristo Pérez at the helm.
 
The change comes after a successful three-year run by the Spaniards, who captured a silver medal at the EuroBasket Women 2007 in Chieti and followed that with a fifth-place finish at the Beijing Olympics and a bronze medal at the EuroBasket Women 2009 in Latvia.
 
Spain looked as if they might finally capture a gold medal last year after a blistering, undefeated run to the Semi-Finals of the EuroBasket Women in Riga.
 
They came up against Russia in the last four, though, and were blown out 77-61.
 
"I am profoundly thankful to the FEB for giving me the opportunity to coach the national team for the past three years,” Pérez said.
 
"I consider it one of the best national teams in the world.
 
"I think the team has responded to the expectations in our last three big tournaments.
 
"But I understand that there are moments in which we want to make a change in rhythm or cycle.”
 
Hernández, the former long-time coach of Halcon Avenida in Salamanca, has done wonders since leaving Spanish outfit Halcon Avenida, a team he guided to the EuroLeague Women Final, last summer to coach Wisla Can-Pack Krakow in Poland.
 
A team that was supposed to be in the EuroCup Women before the season, Wisla were invited at the last minute to compete in the EuroLeague Women following the withdrawal of the now defunct CSKA Moscow and Hernández led the team to a first-place finish in their Qualifying Round group.
 
On Tuesday, Wisla continued their remarkable run by winning their first Eighth-Finals Play-off Game against MiZo Pécs 2010.
 
Hernández has been a coach of Spain’s youth teams in the recent past and has led them to the podium.
 
A member of the Spanish Basketball Federation’s technical committee since 2007, he led the country to silver at the U16 European Championship for Women in 2007 in Valmiera, and gold in Katowice (2008) and Naples (2009).
 
Spain began a youth movement under Pérez by adding Alba Torrens, Laura Nicholls, Tamara Abalde, Anna Cruz and Silva Dominguez – a player Hernández coached at Avenida – the past two years.
 
More youngsters, some of who played for Pérez, can now be expected to join the squad and possibly in time for the FIBA World Championship in the Czech Republic later this year when Spain take on Mali, Korea and Brazil in Group C in Brno.
 
Hernández could also try to bring back the hugely popular Marta Fernandez, a 28-year-old shooting guard under him at Wisla who has been curiously left out of the three national teams since 2006 when she played at the FIBA World Championship for Women.
 
Fernandez has averaged more than 15 points and four assists per game at Wisla this season and was recently voted in as a starter for Europe in the EuroLeague Women All-Star Game.
 
She is the sister of Spain men’s star, Rudy Fernandez.
 
"To be appointed the national team coach is the maximum,” Hernández said.
 
“It is a dream for any coach. I see this challenge as fantastic, as the continuation of the work done in recent years.
 
"A World Championship is more complicated than any other tournament because it's very competitive and with rivals of great physical potential.
 
"But considering the results achieved by the national team at the last European Championship, I believe Spain is capable of fighting for the maximum and challenging the best teams in the world.
 
"The team has an extraordinary mix of veterans and youth.”
 
Among the senior players are Amaya Valdemoro, Elisa Aguilar, Laia Palau, Cindy Lima, Isa Sanchez, Lucila Pascua and Anna Montañana.
 
"The most veteran players have a lot of experience - World Championship, Olympic games and European Championships - and they have achieved excellent results,” Hernández said, “while the young players have achieved many medals in the youth teams.
 
"It is a very important balance that offers us a great present. Above all to have a lot of enthusiasm for a great future.”
 
Hernández paid tribute to his predecessor.
 
"Evaristo has done an extraordinary job, just as the previous coaches,” Hernández said.
 
“All of them have left the standards very high, but personally Evaristo has done a great job. He's a fantastic coach, a great person and as national team coach, he has been a great friend.
 
"In the last year, I've had a lot of new experiences. Now it would be great to remain as national coach for many years.”
 
FEB president Jose Luis Saez said: "We start a new cycle with an excellent past.
 
"The new coach is a coach that knows perfectly our women's basketball, our players, our teams and our work philosophy.
 
"Moreover, he is a coach that focuses on youth and works with young players, which is one of the symbols of the FEB.
 
"We want to remain competitive in all the tournaments that we will take part in but working as well to keep on growing with the generations that are strongly pushing behind us.”
 
Saez also stressed that Pérez had done an outstanding job.
 
"I want to thank Evaristo for his excellent work, for his dedication in the three years he's been in charge,” he said.
 
"He will continue to work with the FEB because he is a coach that has developed here and who will no doubt continue to add and help make the structure of our basketball bigger."
 
FIBA