Chema Buceta turns Great Britain’s Women’s basketball team into winners by making it all about the players.
By Huw Hopkins - @coach_huw
Last Updated: 06/07/19 9:28am
Great Britain's women's basketball head coach Chema Buceta refuses to take any credit for the way in which the team has turned its fortunes around to reach the semi-finals at the FIBA Women's EuroBasket.
He said: "The key is the generosity and commitment of the players. The players are the ones who play, and they were ready to fight for an ambitious project."
The players might have been ready, but they are not letting Buceta off the hook that easily. After beating Hungary to advance to the semi-finals for the first time in the team's history, captain Joey Leedham-Warner said: "I've been in the programme for such a long time. It's been through some ups, and a lot of downs.
"The fact that we're doing what we're doing, and the support we have is unbelievable. It speaks volumes about Chema, and what he's done to pick up this programme from where it slowed down after 2012.
"Chema is such a motivator and a positive person, he makes everybody feel good. It's so easy to play for him because it's tough to find a coach that's like that. He has really lifted this programme back up - it's a breath of fresh air."
Wing player Karlie Samuelson has not been with the team long - she became nationalised during the EuroBasket qualification stage by way of her mother, who played netball for England - and even she realises how this historic run this team is on.
"You can tell how excited we were to get the quarter-final," she said. "I think we knew we could do it though. We're confident, and France will be really good, but we're confident."
The team has built confidence and shaken off a reputation of being unable to score - as was the case in previous iterations - and Samuelson is a big part of that, adding nearly 14 points per game in this tournament.
Also, the growth of Temi Fagbenle helps. She was just 19 in 2012 but now she has WNBA and EuroLeague experience and is averaging a confident 22.6 points in Serbia. With the all-round veteran leadership of Leedham-Warner's veteran adding around 12 points in each contest (plus seven rebounds and five assists), plus an array of long-time British nationals supporting, such as Rachel Vanderwal, Georgia Jones and Chantelle Handy, the team is a complete unit.
This is why Buceta is keen to keep the focus on the players: "Coaches only help the players do what they already can do. We are just here to help.
His way of helping is by giving the team his undivided attention. Many international coaches also have jobs with professional teams, but Buceta spends his non-GB Basketball time away from the court:
"Each coach has to do what is right for him or her. For me, it's important to leave the sport and do different things, and I've been involved with many projects as a sport psychologist helping other coaches in different sports and I think this balance for me is important. I prefer to coach just a national team, because I think I can be more focused.
"I can follow the players every week to see what they do on their teams. I can contact them by email or by phone to see what they are doing. I am always thinking about the team and how we can improve."
It's certainly working. While the rest of the world might have overlooked Britain as a threat at the start of this year's EuroBasket, they are taking notice now. But as the country rises through the ranks - and has guaranteed itself a spot in the Olympic qualification tournament - the competition will get tougher.
Britain will face France in the semi-final, a team was considered a favourite to win the tournament when it all began.
But to Buceta, it is still just one game: "We have a chance to win a medal and we will try to go as far as possible. Our strategy in qualification and in these final rounds has been to go game by game. We began the competition with that strategy and we will continue to go game by game."
The game will take place on Saturday at 5pm.
