Marta Mangué (39 years old, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria) admits that four months after returning to the island 20 years later, she still feels like a stranger in her own home. “Everything is new here, I don’t know anyone. An absolute reference in modern Spanish women’s handball and with an unattainable resume with the national team at the moment, the Rocasa player was like going to another country,” he says: 301 matches and 1,034 goals. In terms of numbers, I am number one in history. and with it arrangement I’ve already said everything”, he says directly and succinctly, without wanting to expand further. Not required for Panther.

Although Spain continues to compete at the top level in France, five years ago she involuntarily swept it out of her plans and returned to the warmth of her home this summer by donning shorts in her final season. a difficult trajectory to match. “If he didn’t come back now, he would never have come. And I’m doing it to win. I signed for a year and then I’ll see if I can continue as a coach,” he said.

The main protagonist of a Spain that forever earned its name in the popular imagination (Guerreras) ten years ago, beyond consequences and possibilities, the Canary was also one of the pioneers of its sport and launched itself before almost anyone else. He became the second Spanish handball player to sign for a foreign team in 2007, following Isabel Ortuño from Alicante in 2004. And he says he did it his own way. “I had three years left on my contract at Cementos La Unión, we had just won the League and the Cup and I decided to leave. I didn’t have any equipment I promised and I didn’t get it until mid-summer but something really weird was going on inside. I didn’t want to be in Spain anymore. I was brave,” he emphasizes now.

Since then, he has gone through Danish Team Esbjerg (2007-11), Serbian Zajecar (2011-12) and several French teams: Fleury (2012-15), Brest (2015-20) and Bourg-de-Péage (2020-22) . “I created myself as an outsider, but above all, I learned what it’s like to be treated professionally. I notice this the most when I return to Spain,” he emphasizes. sleevedParticularly fraught with great differences between those who live in the territory of Gaul and those who are in the division of national honor with the Rocasa shirt.

We lost the quarry, the schoolyard culture in Spain

“The regulation of contracts in Spain has improved. Before signing a paper and that’s it. But in France there is a structure and more possibilities to have a professional team. All teams must have a training center there. We lost the quarry here, that schoolyard culture, and it’s very difficult to regain it,” the Canary midfielder advises, as a general rule, to a young woman who currently has aspirations and potential to go out. “The quarry playing too many minutes is as good as it is bad. They have neither references nor anyone in front of them to improve themselves. I had some very good players to look at. If you get used to playing 60 minutes per game, you still won’t be as good as before,” she said.

Now he confirms that the national team does not have as wide a range as the leading teams. “Neither from physics nor from international experience,” he notes. In his time and under his great rule, Spain was the subject of Macarena Aguilar, Begoña Fernández, Verónica Cuadrado, Eli Chavez, Nely Carla Alberto or Silvia Navarro (sole survivor); they inaugurated the list of five medal winners (Mangué has four medals: two European silvers in 2008 and 2014, world bronze in 2011 and Olympic bronze in 2012); and La Roja de Fútbol, ​​which gave rise to the ingrained nickname (Guerreras). marketing. “Jorge Duenas [el seleccionador] It gave us more freedom, created a more humane team. And there were veterans who at certain moments put everyone on the curb, ”says the Canary actor.

In other countries, players like me are kicked out of the national team through the front door.

But for him, this phase ended in 2017, a year after the traumatic eliminations in the quarterfinals of the Rio Games against France (We finished the circuit ahead 25-26 by seven margins.). A farewell that leaves a mark that can still be seen today. “I saw that I continued to contribute, but I understand that it was the coach’s decision. [Carlos Viver, sucesor de Dueñas]. Yes, I wish they had called me earlier to say they didn’t want to trust me anymore as I learned on the networks. Some friends said. Anyway, the biggest thorn is not being able to say goodbye after all these years. [de 2000 a 2017]just like Macarena Aguilar [240 encuentros y 638 tantos]. In other countries, players like me get kicked out the front door,” Marta Mangué says with a point of resignation.

A few months before she turns 40, she hastily breathes her last sports breaths in Gran Canaria amid advice and advice to young women in the locker room. “Today is my day because I want to be a coach. I find it fulfilling”, Mangué values. Since debuting with his current team at the age of 16, where he took a short step before migrating, to date, it has been twenty years on the front and a generational change in which the bunker lives. “I don’t consider myself a Russian, Natalia Morskova, one of the best of my beginnings. You sat in her place and she scolded you. We’re in other times. Although I learned a lot from that time, I stay in the current deal. Respect”, ditch the Canary

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