Azu Muguruza receives the award from Harkaitz Millán. /
The IDK Euskotren coach receives the award for her career of more than two successful decades on the bench
IDK Euskotren basketball coach Azu Muguruza has received the VII Carmen Adarraga Award for her 25 years of successful work on the bench. The deputy for Sports, Harkaitz Millan, presented this afternoon with the award that he intends to highlight people like Muguruza “who persevere, inspire and drag new female generations so that a fairer, more equal and free society is built through sport” .
Muguruza was born in San Sebastián in 1968 and has a degree in Physical Activity and Sports Sciences (INEF) from the UPV/EHU and is a senior basketball coach. Her career began by combining her studies with basketball practice at Donosti-Las Banderas. She soon stopped playing basketball to focus on her role as a coach.
In 1993, he took charge of the UPV/EHU team that played in university categories to consolidate it and continue to rise to the elite of Spanish basketball. In 2001 the club made the leap to federated categories: “We reached an agreement with Atlético San Sebastián and we came out as UPV Atlético in the First National”. The year 2007, already called Club Deportivo Ibaeta, culminated in promotion to Liga 2. In 2013, after six seasons in the Silver League, she achieved promotion with the team of all her life to the Endesa League, the highest competition for women’s clubs. of basketball that is disputed in Spain.
Azu Muguruza has become a woman of reference in Basque and Spanish basketball, not only because of her long career: 25 years in charge of a bench, but also because of her vindication of the situation of women’s basketball in Spain. She is one of the most respected coaches at the national level who does not stop highlighting the difficulties encountered by coaches in her public appearances.
The Carmen Adarraga Award aims to reward and publicly recognize the performance of those people who stand out for their attitude, career or trajectory, opening paths in sport, causing changes and social transformations in favor of equality. Coro Fuentes, Mari Ayestarán, the Racquet Players Nieves Alza, Arantza del Puerto and Carmen Diez Mintegui were the winners in the first 6 editions.
“People who persevere”
Harkaitz Millan, deputy for Culture and Sports, assures that “the award aims to highlight those people whose reference helps to continue opening the way for other generations of girls and women in the world of sports. People, who persevere, inspire and drag new female generations so that through sport a more just, equal and free society is built.
One of those women was Carmen Adarraga. She was a pioneer of women’s sport in Gipuzkoa, at a time when the difficulties were much greater and more so for women. Women who were forced to justify their hobby, which was seen as gender inappropriate and even unnatural.
