Mario Lopez is leaving Guernica for health reasons

Mario Lopez is an essential figure for understanding women’s basketball in Spain, And of course a true legend in Guernica. From his hand, Biscayan’s team grew to rub shoulders the most. He left behind 11 consecutive seasons at the helm of the first team, which led him from first to LF2, LF and EuroCup. What begins now is an even more important challenge: the process of recovering from illness to lead a normal life. Anna Montañana takes chargewho actually worked as Lopez’s assistant in the last quarter of last season.

Therefore, Mallost was confused today when it was announced that his coach must leave him for health reasons. This was verified by the President, Gerardo Candina: “This is not a change of course, but the natural replacement for Mario’s trusted persona”. Regarding the character of Anna Montañana, the senior captain of Kian Guernicara indicated that she is “fully prepared to take on this challenge and follow the line of continuity set by the club and Mario Lopez, leaving her mark at the same time. Moreover, Anna already worked with us in the last months of last season; therefore; The initial goals of continuing to be among the best teams in the Women’s League and in the European Cup are maintained.”

The Valencia Montañana coach also has many international experiences with Guernicara’s coach in Spanish teams. She was one of the most intelligent and creative players in the modern history of National Basketball, winning all possible titles in Spain, the Super Cup, the Queen’s Cup and the Women’s League in teams such as Perfumerías Avenida and Ros Casares, and was with Salamanca the team that achieved the Euroleague. force forward He also enjoyed the WNBA experience with the Minnesota Lynx. A reference for the Spanish national team in the first decade of the twenty-first century, he won 129 international matches and 4 medals, including bronze in the World Cup in the Czech Republic in 2010.

Anna’s transition from player to coach was immediate. In 2016 she was an assistant to the Spanish U16F team led by Mario Lopez who both won gold at the European Championships, and since then she has been a regular collaborator in the training classes for the Spanish team. In 2018, Montaniana jumped to the ACB seat, specifically the Fuenlabrada seat, as Nestor Garcia’s assistant and remained there until the departure of Paco Garcia in 2020. Since then, new coach Guernicara has been formed into the Colombian and Argentine league teams.