The Spanish team closed the past decade as the country with the most medals won in the FIBA training championships (42), ahead of the United States (31), Australia (27) and France (26). In total, 19 podiums for the men’s teams and 23 for the women’s teams, 12 of them with gold around their neck. In 2016, Raquel Carrera played her first World Cup at the age of 14, among 17-year-old girls, and, shortly after, she achieved the first gold of her record. This weekend, in the Copa de la Reina, the Galician player, 19 years old and 1.90m, is looking for her first title with Valencia while applying with force to be with the senior team in the Eurobasket and the Games of this summer after its brilliant evolution.
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“I have been assimilating everything naturally. Everything is coming in due time and I hope that many more things will continue to arrive. The key to everything is to work and work hard, “says Carrera from Valencia, in the midst of the fight for the Queen’s Cup – today the semifinals are held: Uni Girona-Perfumerías Avenida (13.00, Tdp) and XXXXX-XXXX (17.00, Tdp ) -, with a mature and humble speech, oblivious to the expectations that place her as the player with the greatest projection in Spanish women’s basketball. “I have always had the responsibility. The idea is to continue growing and training in the sport that I am passionate about. And the key is that the illusion is always above the pressure. I cannot get frustrated or excited based on people’s expectations ”, points out the center from Ourense, who, after passing the selectivity last year, is now studying a nutrition degree, with the prospect of pursuing a degree in physiotherapy.
“My mother got it into my head from a very young age that I had to study. That he played basketball or whatever he wanted, but that he studied, to be someone of benefit, “says Raquel when she reviews her young biography. A path that soon led her to basketball. “I had tried handball, dance, rhythmic gymnastics… but basketball was what hooked me. My friends also played basketball and it was where I most enjoyed the camaraderie, the team concept, the collective emotion, ”she continues. His first baskets were at the Colegio de San José, his school in Ourense. Soon came the stretch and the first turning point: leaving home at the age of 13 to develop his talent at Celta de Vigo, one of the best quarries in Spanish basketball.
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Carlos Colinas, technical director of the team where Alba Torrens, Laura Nicholls, Tamara Abalde and María Araujo grew up, recalls the impression that little Raquel Carrera made on him. “With her minibasket team in Ourense, at just 11 years old, you could see that she was a very smart girl on the track, she stood out for her competitive instinct. We gave her scholarships for her training, we signed her and she made her debut in Liga Femenina 2 at the age of 14 ”, Colinas reviews, before listing the characteristics that have driven her rapid projection. “From very early on it was seen that she was a special player. The naturalness with which he deals with everything is surprising. In Spain there has never been a player so great who contributes so much and has such an impact on the game, none. He has a tremendous defensive performance, he arrives a second before everything. She bounces, scores, steals, assists, makes her teammates better … She has a sixth sense for the game and the desire to want to be a basketball player, ”emphasizes Celta’s technical director, who also experienced first-hand the second crossing of Career paths.
“In her third year with us in Vigo, everything was called from American universities and from Spanish League 1 clubs. But she was always clear that she had come to complete a four-year cycle. Someone who is not very mature is not capable of managing that bombing as she managed it, ”says Colinas. “She has a very great capacity for concentration in the competition and that allows her to carry everything naturally. He transforms in the face of challenges and enjoys what he does a lot. She is a brutal competitor ”, he completes.
Finally, Carrera opted for the stability of the five-year project offered by Valencia Basket – the first of which was transferred to Araski de Vitoria to progressively forge himself into the elite. A decision supported by José Ignacio Hernández, former coach and current technical director of the women’s teams. “Not everything is the United States. Being in the Women’s League since the age of 18 means playing at a competitive level much higher than that of the players who are in the American university league. The NCAA would be too small for him. It has succeeded in that, because it has quickly consolidated its evolution, we refer to the tests ”, he points out. If a gap is made between the final 12 for the Eurobasket and the Games, she will not have that role of the young player who arrives to gain experience. It will contribute from the beginning. The ceiling is going to mark her and she has an enormous capacity to work to go far ”, adds Hernández.
His coach at Valencia Basket, Rubén Burgos, confirms Carrera’s competitive maturity. “It is a great project for the future, but it is already a great reality. With her we have never looked at the days and in the selection they will not do it either. It has always been up to the challenge that has been placed before it and now it is being that way. It was born for this ”, closes the technician. “When I grow up I would like to be a basketball player,” completes Raquel, laughing, between innocence and unlimited ambition. The future is here. Her name is Raquel Carrera.