Celta Zorka Recalvi, although he moved to Navia eleven years ago, returns to the Central de As Travesas frequently, to train some mornings. In one of the little rooms that surround the track, the club keeps the trophies won under its current institutional structure: the 1999 and 2000 Leagues and the 2001 Copa de la Reina. Sara Vidal, the only consolidated homegrown player in the current squad, has seen them adult, who at just 21 years old shares the captaincy with Anne Seniosain. The great celestial legends observe it from the walls, in color or black and white. “You see the hanging glasses and all the photos…”, she recounts. She knows that in the RCCelta museum are those achieved as a section (Leagues of 1977, 1979, 1982; Cups 1981, 1982 and 1984). On her rests that legacy of women’s basketball from Vigo, the glorious and the humble, which this weekend will try to return to the highest category. Vidal faces the challenge: “To be a professional athlete you have to be a little ambitious. If you can be in the Endesa Women’s League, why are you going to settle for being in the Challenge League, even if it’s very good. We have the possibility to achieve it with our people. Let’s go for it.”
Cristina Cantero and her players, after the morning session, this time in Navia, spoke to the media. They are accompanied by the president, Carlos Álvarez, who participates in the huddles and harangue: “I wish you all the luck in the world. Their luck is mine. They have to be clear that our objective, which was to be in the promotion phase, has been achieved. What comes from now on is a prize”.
“I am very happy for the club and for the president,” says Cantero. The Cordovan arrived at Celta, then sponsored by Banco Siméon, as a base in 2002. She retired in 2007, 351 passes later. She has led the first team since 2016. She met the elite and the 2 League; the relative ease and austerity. And she has witnessed the efforts of Carlos Álvarez to recover the category. “He is fighting so that basketball feels good in the city again, that we can have a team in the 1st League. But above all, that it sits down, that the pavilion is full again and that everyone enjoys it,” he praised the president. “It is a ball that is growing. If we’re able to feed her, she’s obviously going to be better. If we don’t get promoted but we live basketball at a good level together again and in the city, it’s also taking a giant step”.
national reference
Aware of the difficulty, without being able to compare his budget to that of Zamora, for example, Carlos Álvarez has never hidden his obsession. The gallery owner, until then vice president, took office in 2016, when Paco Araújo passed away. He plans to travel the world with his wife when he retires, freed from responsibilities. But before he wants to leave Celta in the Endesa Women’s League after having already completed the first objective, which was to clean up the accounts. Celta never lost their place among the greats on the pitch. Araújo decided to leave it in 2012, out of responsibility, to stop a lethal indebtedness dynamic. “It will be eleven years since we resigned,” the president specifies. “I think it is time to return this city to the Women’s League, which is what corresponds to us. Even though we are in the Challenge League, we are a national reference team. Let’s go step by step. I would like to try to promote and then we will have what the city of Vigo wants”.
Because Álvarez assumes history, but at the same time knows that the fans filled O Berbés in 1999 like As Travesas so many times since the seventies, in a necessary symbiosis“I have told the players that they have to play. If we go up, the problem will come for the board of directors to find an appropriate budget ”. And he reveals: “I am speaking with the institutions and with some sponsors. Since we are the most industrial city in Galicia, it would be important for companies to get a little more involved, not only with us but with all of sport”.
Such an honor
In the list of Celtic idols, many youth squads stand out and some wore the bracelet like Sara Vidal, along with Seniosain. “Only MJ (Musa) and I remain from last year’s squad. By role, even though she is young, she has touched me. For a girl who has been here since she was 12 years old, to become captain of the first team is quite an honor.”
Sara did not meet a Celta from Liga 1 and if she could see him as a tiny fan, she confesses: “I don’t even remember that.” She does describe herself in the stands, a recent arrival: “On Saturday afternoons we came to see the majors with all the enthusiasm in the world. It is what we do now with the little ones; we are godmothers of the youth teams and we always encourage them to come to the games”.
They have been, are and will be, inserting the individual into the collective, transcending themselves. “Our coaches tell us that when we leave basketball we will remember the beautiful moments. The work we have done throughout the season deserves the reward. We want to put the icing on the cake.”
Subscriptions, on sale for 20 euros
The sports director, Carlos Colinas, is busy placing advertising banners in the pavilion. The manager Pedro Preciado bustles in a suit with packages. All the members of Celta Zorka Recalvi multiply in preparation for the promotion phase. The club has put on sale (celtabaloncesto.compralaentrada.com) the season tickets for the three matches, at a single price for all ages: 20 euros. The club’s season cards will not be valid in the phase.
2023-04-27 04:10:45
#Faro #Vigo
