Competa vs Torrox Pueblo Ladies Basketball Match

For those who don't know, the Competa Ladies Basketball team was started in October and has been training hard ever since. Initial promising numbers of around twenty women soon dwindled to a hard core of around twelve committed members, comprising of three English, one Irish and the rest local Spanish women, with ages ranging from early thirties to mid forties. Although a few of the Spanish women played when they were at school, most had never played before, so getting us all match-ready was going to be a daunting task for the ever-patient coaches Marcial and Antonio.

Weeks of training passed with sessions of learning ball control, improving hand eye co-ordination, movement around the court, defense formations and attacking skills. Marcial spent most of this time with his head buried in his hands, while Antonio's eyes would often be turned aloft, looking for divine intervention, or a least a miracle. Slowly but surely our skills began to be honed and our confidence grew until, around the end of January, we looked less like a rag-tag group of individuals and more like a bone-fide team. We knew our 'bote de velocidad' from our 'bote de proteccion' and our 'pasa picado' from our 'pasa de pecho'.

Soon there were whisperings in the changing rooms that there could be an imminent match looming. Marcial would neither confirm nor deny the rumors, he simply began making us practice our defense formations, over and over until we were loosely holding a proper shape at the back. Then we were drilled over and over in attacking tactics. 'Pasar y movar' (pass and move) was the mantra he and Antonio repeated over and over again. Then last week we finally got the news that a match had been organized with Torrox Pueblo for Thursday 6th March, to be played in the polideportivo just outside Torrox. The whole team was excited, finally a chance to put our skills on display!

We met in the carpark in Competa at 7pm to go down the mountain road in convoy. Nerves were already beginning to show and confidence was beginning to dip. When we arrived in Torrox and saw the other team warming up confidence took a complete nose dive. They were practicing shooting and barely missed a shot from any angle or distance from the basket. It was clear we had our work cut out for us!
Anna, Helen, Palmira, Jenny and Anna were selected as the first five, and although we won the first 'tip-off' Anna's nerves got the better of her and she ran in the direction of the wrong basket, then passed the ball to Helen gaining us our first foul as you aren't allowed to pass the ball backwards. Two seconds later Torrox scored their first basket. For the first five minutes our team was completely over awed, not just by the other team's excellent defending, but by their speed around the court and almost flawless passing skills. At this point I was glad I hadn't been selected first as it gave me a chance to observe what was going on for a minute or two. I decided on the bench that if we were to stand any chance we would have to be a lot more aggressive. Every time our team got the ball, we hesitated too much before passing and the Torrox girls were all over us making it almost impossible to pass accurately, never mind get a shot at goal.
After about 5 minutes, and the same amount of goals scored by the other team, Marcial swapped me onto the team, so I decided just to go for it. I ran at everyone and tried to pass and move as quickly as possible, my strategy paid off and I scored the first basket for Competa. This gave the whole team a lift, we all knew at this point that we were never going to win, but also knew that if we wanted to leave with our heads held high we would have to raise our game. Passing became tighter and the defence more organized, with a strong Anna and Jenny holding their own against stong Torrox attacks.

The first half passed in a blur. There was great amusement from the Spanish when I produced my half time oranges (they'd never heard of such a thing), but when I explained the double benefit of sugar induced energy, and juice for thirst, they were won over and they went down a treat. In the second half we managed to play more coherently as a team. We all seemed to have gotten over our initial shock, Marie-Carmen and Palmira were excellent down the wings, Maria was like a little bullet and Trini always ore due to nevers than lack of skill as during practice she is one of our better shooters. Merecedes, who has just returned after a long absence, completely refused to go on she was so nervous, but Marcial managed to persuade her we had nothing to lose and she seemed to enjoy herself when she was out there. But we were completely outclassed by a very slick Torrox. Helen, the tallest in our team, was completely mobbed every time she managed to get the ball within shooting range, but she still managed to knock one in. The next day she said she felt like she had been in a fight!
managed to find a bit of free space. Although Pili was one of the most nervous there, she still managed a few shots on goal. Unfortunately she missed, but this was more due to nerves than lack of skill as during practice she is one of our better shooters.

All in all we managed to score six baskets, three for me, one for Helen, one for Marie-Carmen, and a spectacular out-shot from a gutsy Dolores. I lost count of how many baskets Torrox managed to score!

All in all, the match was great experience to us all. We came away understanding the rules a bit better, particularly as our 'official camera man' Doug explained them to us on the way back home (he is a qualified basketball ref) and with a better understanding of the game in general, especially where we had been going wrong both defensively and offensively. However, for the next six months or so, I will have to support the team from the sidelines as I am almost four months pregnant, so my first match was also my last for the time being. There are great players on the team and I know they will go from strength to strength and I'm gutted that I won't be continuing on with them. We have great coaches in Marcial and Antonio who are both very committed to the game at all levels, from the youngest school kids up. They do a fantastic job, have endless patience and if any