The echoes of voices and the bounce of the ball become confusing. It’s a normal afternoon at the Vic pavilion (Barcelona). Until silence falls in a glass room. There are two players, both with their books and notes. A classroom in the middle of a pavilion? Yes, precisely. A space that the Femení Osona club opened a year ago, thanks to Endesa’s Basket Girlz project, so that its athletes wouldn’t have to give up anything. Neither in the field nor in studies.
The initiative, which has been a resounding success, is now being imitated elsewhere. In a pavilion in Granada, they transformed a room without a changing room into a classroom and have just opened it: “We are confident that, thanks to this, next year we will be able to have two junior women’s teams again”, says Francisco Ballesteros, sporting director of Granada Más Baloncesto (GMASB), proudly.
When adolescence arrives, six out of ten girls who abandon basketball do so due to the difficulty of balancing training and games with high school or university. It was detected in the report that gave rise to the Basket Girlz project, promoted by Endesa and FEB. All with the collaboration of the researcher and former international base Mar Rovira. Measures such as the creation of these two classrooms in pavilions, financed by Endesa, represent a concrete and effective remedy against premature abandonment that opens up yet another gender disparity against which action is urgently needed. Because they, the teenage players, don’t have the same numbers of dismissals.
Jùlia Vila, Femení Osona base and training category coach, likes to share a room with clubmate Aina Gonell while they both work on college tasks. They motivate each other. For Vila, last year, in which he had to take the University Admission Test (PAU), would have been much more complicated without the availability of that classroom.
This study space has been a great support so that I don’t have to take time away from basketball when I start university.
Júlia Vila, player and coach of Femení Osona
“I spent my idle hours in the pavilion. Between finishing training for the mini girls (category for players under 12 years old) and starting training for my own team, I didn’t have time to go home. The study room made it easier for me to make the most of my time and helped me a lot”, says the 18-year-old, who is studying a double degree in Sports Science and Teaching at the University of Vic, in addition to coaching two teams and managing on the field. park for the club’s Senior A, which competes in the Primera Catalana. “I spent all of high school organizing myself and managed to get a cut. This space was a great support, and still is, so I don’t have to leave basketball when I enter university.”
Reasons to continue
Aina Gonnel, 18 years old and also a Sports Science Degree student, plays as a striker. Although, he says, the future on the bench is starting to be more exciting than on the court. Like Vila, he does not aim for a professional sports career. It’s not about that. They like basketball and want to continue being linked to it. Largely because they feel it has shaped who they are today; On the court they acquired values, the fundamental learning from basketball was to make them mature early: “My parents told me to skip some training, that nothing would happen”, says Gonnel, “but you know that if you fail, you don’t just fail yourself, you fail the entire team.
“We believe in the integral development of the player”, says Anna Farrès (43 years old), sports coordinator at Femení Osona. You’ve often heard those phrases from mothers and fathers who encourage their daughters to focus on their studies, as if basketball were an obstacle and not the best possible complement. Statements that, of course, she understands, because “there are places where what girls learn is to compete, they cannot fail and learn from that, make mistakes”. Values.
Femení Osona is not like that: the track is also a learning ground for managing emotions, a miniature version of life. Therefore, as they have always given pride of place to the academic dedication of their players, they welcomed the proposal to build a study room with open arms. A classroom that was built within the framework of the national women’s basketball capital that Vic held during 2024.
The impact, explains Farrès, was profound: “There were parents who thought it wouldn’t be of much use. And, for the little ones, he says, it’s an easy example to imitate: “They see the older ones so focused and they do the same.”
Vic’s classroom even convinced families. Anna Rodoreda is a primary school teacher. Every time he took his daughter, he would sit in the stands and work on the computer. Until she asked and found out that she had access to the room: “I come on Wednesdays and Fridays, and there are always girls studying for tests or doing homework; so I take advantage and don’t take work home. And I still have time to watch my daughter train a little.”
Farrès, who for five years was coach of the elite Siglo XXI program, comments on how these measures allow players to take advantage of facilities that until now were only offered in these types of youth clubs, aimed at training basketball professionals. It’s not the same thing: they won’t adapt study plans and exams. But it’s a start. “If they placed some seats for reading like in a library, I think even parents would be happy to accompany our daughters here in the afternoon”, says Rodoreda, happily.
Granada, where the example spread
Five hundred kilometers to the south, in Granada Más Baloncesto (GMASB), the example was an inspiration. “We are a club with many boys and girls, more than 400, and when we learned about Vic’s experience we saw that it fit perfectly with what we needed”, explains Francisco Ballesteros, the club’s sporting director.
At its headquarters, in the municipal pavilion, an abandoned room in the locker room was converted into the second study room of the Basket Girlz project promoted by Endesa. Since its opening on September 9th, it has been packed every afternoon with a handful of players enjoying the time before or after training. “There are always four or five boys and girls. The parents are amazed. Many children have already stayed here until they were picked up; now, in addition, they are studying”, says Ballesteros, who highlights the peace of mind of parents who know they are leaving their children in a safe environment.
When they reach the cadet category and move on to junior, we saw that many girls gave up basketball. If we achieve this, thanks to this classroom, there are more girls who don’t give up, it will have been a success
Francisco Ballesteros, GMASB sporting director
Coaches also collaborate. “They help with doubts, with homework… We try to show this idea to families so that they see that it is an opportunity. In recent years we have seen how, upon reaching the cadet phase or when moving on to junior, many girls have abandoned basketball.
Ballesteros, in fact, has a goal: two women’s teams in the junior category. Believe they can do it. “A few years ago we had two groups, but there is only one left. This year we have 40 cadet girls. With the study room, if we manage to keep them, to continue with us, we will have multiplied the number of players; we will have paved the way”, celebrates the sports director.
It’s about sending a crucial message: that you can study and keep playing. “There are many families who think that if their son or daughter wants to be a doctor or engineer they should give up basketball. But that’s not true. You don’t study all afternoon: you also need to move around, clear your head. The room offers that: an environment of trust where sport and study go hand in hand.”
The routine, in any case, will not be easy. You have to organize yourself. Otherwise, Gonnel’s example is enough: “Today I have three training sessions in a row: first the mini ones, then the children’s ones and finally our team’s. The smart thing is to continue.
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