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Sure, here is the translation in English:
The captain of Fraikin Granollers has written his last chapter as a professional handball player with a dream script. On an individual level, Antonio García has received the distinction as MVP and Best Left Lateral of the ASOBAL League in a campaign that, on a collective level, has had the reward of the runner-up in the Plenitude League and a European place to compete in the EHF European League next season. Still with emotions running high after being crowned MVP at the ASOBAL Gala, we interview the Cañón de la Llagosta in a chat in which the front line makes an assessment of his sports career, analyzes the ASOBAL Talent School and values the formative work of the clubs in the top category.
An unforgettable last season
“I had never imagined a whole season like this one, neither in terms of results nor performance, and above all, in terms of feelings for having experienced everything I have experienced on all the courts where I have played since the day I announced that it was going to be my last season in the ASOBAL League. With that golden brooch on the last day in Granollers, achieving second place and with a Palau so full of people, with such an atmosphere and with so many people supporting the team, all of us who finish and, above all, supporting me. That affection that I lived, I would never have imagined that it could exist. Having lived it in Granollers, with all the people who love me and all the fans of Granollers is very special”.
The dream of debuting in the ASOBAL League
“The young Antonio García, just by having debuted in the ASOBAL League, would have already fulfilled a dream because I was a child sick of the sport, I specialized in handball, I was very good at it and my dream was to be a professional. Just by having debuted in the first team of Granollers and in the ASOBAL League I would have already fulfilled a dream. With that I can explain a little bit what these years and this last season have meant to me. Having lived everything I have lived and having competed at the highest level until the last day, for me, has been the most beautiful thing in my entire sports career and what I am most proud of and grateful for all the people who have been there”.
Retirement at the highest level
“My intention was to retire with the people around me who love me and who watch my matches asking me not to retire. I didn't want that day to come when they would ask me because it would mean that Antonio García is not being Antonio García on the court. I have achieved that and I have also enjoyed it very much because everything that had to come together for me to enjoy has come together: being in the team of my life, competing for the maximum that has been that runner-up of the ASOBAL League, surrounded by teammates who have given me incredible affection, who have loved me and respected me and with a coaching staff to take their hats off to”.
A career crowned with the MVP
“There are two very important points in the election of the MVP, the first is the runner-up which is a prize for a great season of a whole team and that has made me play at my best level. And then the MVP rewards a career, a way of life, a way of living handball, of competing and, above all, of making my team play at the highest level. I am very grateful to all those who have voted for me because it moves me and, if I had to vote for someone, it would also be for those values”.
Parallel life with Ángel Fernández
“I love Ángel Fernández very much, when I found out that he was returning to ASOBAL and that he was coming to Torrelavega I saw myself when I returned to Granollers after having been so long in Europe playing in other clubs. The enthusiasm with which I returned is the same with which I see Ángel. Returning to his home team, to the one he has always been, to compete at the highest level. I see myself reflected in him and I think the feeling is mutual. We have shared many things in the selection, we have lived great moments and the appreciation we have for each other is enormous. I am very happy that he has lived the season that he has lived because I think that Ángel has been key in the Torrelavega campaign, not only for his level of play but for his mentality and his way of seeing handball. Unfortunately for us, for Granollers, Torrelavega is going to be a very difficult rival in the coming years because Ángel is going to put that competitive character into a team that is also doing things very well”.
The All Star as a true reflection of the Talent School
“I think the All Star is the motto of the League, the Talent School, many young players with audacity and unconsciousness, they are so good and they don't care what they have in front of them and they play at a spectacular level like Víctor Romero or Carlos Álvarez. They are going to be regulars in the selection. And then we have other players who have been here for a long time, who have already been in the selection and whose competitive character makes us want to continue like this until the last day, like Ángel and me. This shows what the ASOBAL League is, that talent that is created in the lower categories of the clubs where they work very well with the young people and then that competitive character that we veterans have learned during our sports career and that we come to teach the young people how to compete until the last day each one in his club”.
Feeling of belonging to the ASOBAL League
“We have a feeling of belonging to our club. That sense of belonging is only found in the ASOBAL League. In Spain we are very welcoming, every ASOBAL club is like that. The new player who arrives at a club feels at home two months after being there. That belonging makes the ambition to compete make us differential. It is only lived in Spain and then, when we go out to compete in the Champions or in the European League, it gives us that plus that, on paper other teams with more budget and super names in their squads, makes us stand up to and be able to make impossible feats. This year Bidasoa has done an impressive role and because of a bad game they have not been in the Final4. Barça continues to make a difference in the Champions and we have been on the verge of making it to the Quarter Finals. That is going to continue to be the case because in the 40x20 we have the best coaches and the players are lucky to learn from them and because of the sense of belonging in all the ASOBAL clubs”.
The future on the bench of Fraikin BM. Granollers
“I don't want handball to leave me. It's what I like to do the most and what I know how to do best. I can't imagine my daily life without handball and now I have the opportunity for that daily life to continue to be for and for handball and on top of that in the club of my life, in Balonmano Granollers and next to a great coach and above all a great friend like Antonio Rama, with teammates whom I have just left in the dressing room and who, in a few months, I am going to be again with them living that daily life. It's an opportunity that can't be turned down and I have taken it with all the enthusiasm in the world and I'm going to do everything I can to make that path that starts now last as long or longer than my career as a player and I hope to enjoy it as much or more”.
