By Lefteris Moutis
An 11-year-old kid, is not a child. He/she is more like a teenager and that’s how adults treat him/her.And its clear enough, as a teenager you must do something really impressive to get adults attention, as you try to take the bests of what your closest relatives have, to create you own personality.
Few months ago, San Sebastian was first of all famous, as a prime destination for luxury holidays and top quality gastronomy. From sports perspective, football club by name Real Sociedad was the most known team of the town. Now, everybody knows Labun Aro, a basketaball club which after 11-year existence, you can say they is a good reason why they are among the six best teams of Liga Endesa. And their inspiration for dreaming to reach higher goals is Gescrap Bilbao.
Through Lagun Aro player Manolis Papamakarios’ valuable help, eurohoops.net talked with two of Sito Alonso’s team leaders, while trying to understand how it must feel to do the best you can to be the new… miracle of Spanish basketball.
Sergi Vidal is the “big name” of the town. Only few days ago, he was named Liga Endesa’s “MVP for March” and before he signed to Lagun Aro, he collected experiences for a decade, at Caja Laboral and Real Madrid. He is by far the most experienced player on the roster, with Andy Panko -on the other hand-, acting as the big brother for his teammates. Although he is an American, after nearly a decade in Europe -most of his years in Spain- he feels Lagun Aro like his second home (he plays over there for 5 years) and he feels like he is at the top of the world!
Role transition via age
The transition from playing for a top level European team to try keeping your new one at the country’s elite championship (cause that was the primary goal for Lagun Aro, when they signed Vidal), its everything but easy.
“It was difficult for me to adapt Lagun Aro’s philosophy. I had some serious doubts i could give them, what they needed. Cause after many years of giving my best to get to the finals and then to get a championship, now i had a totally differend job. And i had to change my style, to be able to be what Lagun Aro wanted to. When I was young, I was an offensive player. I loved to score. Now I don’t care if i m going to score or not, as long as i can help my teammates be productive. I feel happy, when I play good defense, collect rebounds, when i take care every little detail of the game, which can make the difference”.
And nobody feels bigger than the team. As Panko explains: “Lagun Aro doesn’t have big stars. But every single one has his special role. Either you accept you might play for 3′ or 30′ -and you are ready to give everything-, either you dont have a place in our roster. I’ve even changed position and now i play more often as “power forward” than “small forward”. And i enjoy the advantage i have, over my opponents, cause I’m faster”!
Isn’t it strange to change your style, at your mid-thirties? “OK,I am 34 years old. So what? Everyone knows my age and nobody can understand where i’m finding the strength to play as… a guy in his mid-twenties. The age is just a number. As long as i am healthy, as long as i take care of myself -cause i don’t drink, i don’t party, I’m married and father of two kids- i m fine. I am very happy for my professional and personal life and I think you can see it, when i m playing! Τhe same goes for many of my teammates and specially for Manolis Papamakarios, who is a brilliant professional player, very good role model for everybody and has everybody’s respect. My life is wonderful and i m thinking really seriously to stay in Spain, after my retirement”.
Andy Panko: “I don’t care about the NBA”
For Andy Panko, the secret to his success isn’t his lifestyle. It’s more… spiritual. “After all these years in Europe, i realized you have to be smart to… survive. Pablo Lasso was the first one to test me at “four” position and I adjusted immediately”.
He doesn’t believe he lost his chances to be an NBAer “cause i don’t care to play at the NBA. I don’t even watch NBA games. I don’t care what happens over ther. All the NBAers have physical skills, but in my mind this is not the most important thing. I strongly believe most of them cannot play in Europe. Cause to be good at the old continent, you have to know the fundamentals”.
About Andres Nocioni’s decision to leave the NBA -after 8 seasons- and play for Caja Laboral, he explained “he is an amazing player and he feels Europe and Caja Laboral like his home. That’s why he decided to come back. His team is one of the best in Europe, very experienced and tough. It’s no secret that Spanish teams, Olympiacos, Panathinaikos, Maccabi Tel Aviv, CSKA Moscow and few more are ideal destinations for every player. Liga Endesa is very strong. You can beat everybody and… at the same time you can be beaten from everybody”.
Keep in mind, only last month Lagun Aro held off three of five Spain’s representatives in Euroleague (98-90 over Real Madrid, 81-73 over Caja Laboral and 89-81 over Unicaja). With 21 points per game (during these great results), Sergi Vidal was the MVP for March and when he was asked about all the things he did against his… ex love (Real Madrid), he said: “Ι didn’t have the opportunity to show what I really can do, over there. But I have to say, I didn’t have an extra motivation because I played against Real Madrid. I just wanted to give my best against a really good team. We are in good shape, the court was full and normally we wanted to win”.
Love for coach
After 26 games, Lagun Aro is in fourth place of Liga Endesa, with 15-11 record and one of the main factors to their success is of course their coach, Sito Alonso. Both Vidal and Panko praise him. The 36-year-old coach is only two years older than Andy Panko and four than Sergi Vidal, but his -theoretical- lack of experiences doesn’t have an impact to his job.
On the contrary, both of them agree “in 5-6 years he will coach a big team”. Vidal has worked with many excellent coaches, but he confesses: “I’m impressed by the way he makes all players feel important for the team. He knows perfectly every one of us -as person and as player- and at the same time, he knows everything about each of our opponent. He works all day long and it’s enough to say he can go at 7 am to the gym, to coach the young players and sit over there until late at night. I am very happy to play for him”. Panko adds: “Ηe’s young, but smart, has a strong personality and knows well how to function a team. He adapts to the needs of his players”.
Their dreams for Lagun Aro
Is sky the limit for this team? They both refused to compare Lagun Aro with Gescrap Bilbao. They prefer to keep a low profile. Panko said: “We are a small ambitious team without money, but during last year we changed level. We still don’t think about the playoffs. We only focus to the next game”. Vidal agrees : “The most important thing in life is to try to be as good as possible. The same goes for basketball. Sometimes you win, some you lose, sometimes you’re good, sometimes you are not. But if every time you give your best, nobody can accuse you of nothing. Not even yourself”.