The Canarian club was relegated but managed to stay in the Iberdrola League by exchanging its place with Barça
They lead the classification after having played the first three days of the championship
It has taken Heidelberg Volkswagen five years to reach the leadership of the Iberdrola League since they launched their first senior team. Anecdotal or not, after consummating their relegation last year and saving the category in the failures when exchanging his place with Barça (which he resigned for financial reasons), that is the reality pointed out by the sports director of the collegiate team, Mimi Peláez, who considers that it is necessary to “have one’s feet on the ground” without giving up “to enjoy », knowing that only three days have passed so far.
The life lesson received by the team last year in which they paid for the hazing of their debut in the category, has served the Gran Canarian team to learn from the mistakes made and choose to incorporate players with experience in the category into their squad. and wanting to print intensity in each game.
Santi Guerra, Heidelberg’s coach, is committed to making a clean slate with last year. “Last year perhaps there was a lack of feeling with the players,” acknowledges the Gran Canarian, who considers that the squad that has been formed this year “fits more into that drive and fighting spirit that I am looking for and it is much easier, “There is more connection between the coaching staff and the players.” All parties have “clear objectives”, which involve achieving as soon as possible the 22 points that would ensure permanence and once achieved, it will be time to consider looking to higher levels.
For Mireia Guilabert, the new setter of the schoolgirls who signed this summer from Sayre – the leader’s next rival next Sunday at 12:00 p.m. at the CID –, the players are the first to be surprised by the leadership: «We did not expect this start, “Although all of us new players who have joined this year were clear that Heidelberg could not be relegated this year.” The player from Elche highlights the experience in the league of a large part of the new additions that have given the team at this start of the year “an extra aggressiveness and desire”, which her coach Santi Guerra knows how to combine, of whom the orchestra director He considers that “he has the perfect mix to lead a high-level group, because when we are nervous he is able to calm us down and when we are calmer he squeezes us.”
Despite being happy with the squad that has been put together this season, the architect of the collegiate project regrets the unfortunate knee injury of the Romanian Adina Rosca: «It gave us a spectacular plus due to its level, but this is sport, the team has rebuilt itself very well at the start of the season, getting nine points out of a possible nine, it is true that the depth of the squad is somewhat more limited than expected. What we thought at firstreflects the strategist.
In this regard, Guerra admits that they have had their “bad moments, because Génesis Francesco suffered a sprain at first and then had back problems, and Adina’s knee injury left us a little cold, but the team has recovered from everything.” “Those bad moments and she has shown her face, they know they have to take another step forward because she was going to be an important player and we lose her for the entire season.”
Mireia Guilabert is precisely one of the players who has stepped forward to cover the loss of her teammate Génesis, shining at a high level, but at the same time she is the first to admit that “I wish the entire team was complete from the beginning and she could already be competing and playing, because it gives the team an extra quality that is necessary.
Despite everything, Peláez gives favoritism to Sayre in Sunday’s clash, which he describes as “the toughest so far.”