Luis Puertas, the legacy of ABANCA Ademar León and the value of belonging in ASOBAL handball.

The responsibility of living the ASOBAL dream. Luis Puertas unlocks this afternoon at the Palau Blaugrana (19h, Teledeporte, LALIGA+ and Esport3) one more scenario in his particular NEXUS ENERGY ASOBAL League, wearing the badge of ABANCA Ademar León coach that he premiered a few weeks ago at the Quijote Arena of BM. Caserío Ciudad Real. Fugitive rhythm and space for the penultimate chapter of a challenge that transcends the strictly sporty.

“I remember talking about it with Raúl (staff) right there, at the Quijote, saying how we ended up here. We've known each other since school, we've studied together and we've grown up on the same track. I don't know, it was a very nice feeling, a bit with the imposter syndrome, due to our rookie condition, but always aware of the responsibility we had and what we had to do to help the team at all times”, recalls Luis Puertas, assimilating with cool head his new status as the youngest coach in the entire professional competition.

He assumed his position during the second round of the official calendar after a whole career linked to the club, first as a player and then as part of the sports structure and the dynamics of the first team, as a physical trainer and second coach. The unsearched goal to work and a sense of belonging that defines the great value of ASOBAL handball, with solid roots.

“This is a dream. I could not imagine that I would get to direct the first team, and less with 30 years. I didn't even imagine it when I started as a player, I didn't even imagine it when I started as a coach at the base. So, well, it's a huge joy, it's a privilege, that's how I understand it and I work with the goal of growing the club as much as possible, to contribute everything possible to it. I feel that I am in debt, and more after my first game at the Palau. It was incredible. My throat dried up when they introduced me because I hadn't thought about it, I didn't expect the fans to show me so much love. I said it in a press conference. I haven't done anything for the fans and they've given me everything. I am eternally grateful and in debt to them. Now we have to work to make people proud”, explains Luis Puertas, carefully controlling the emotional aspect.

Work and effort in the challenge of a lifetime

His focus is on maintaining and enhancing the virtues of the Leonese squad, from performance and rotation potential to great strokes of talent, with Gonzalo Pérez Arce as the headliner. “It makes me especially excited that the coach of Ademar is a Ademar fan, but I am clear that sport does not understand circumstances or special situations. The most important thing for everyone, group, fans and board, is to work thinking about the next game. Then come personal matters. It is a very exciting and important moment in my life, which I am sure will mark me, but knowing that the fundamental thing is the team, they are the players and that all this has continuity”, comments Puertas.

The baggage of scoring in four of his five matches in NEXUS ENERGY ASOBAL League is a great first step. He tries to give continuity to internal dynamics and leave his imprint little by little, from the most primary mechanisms of the locker room, defining the style that must mark the project of the club in the following seasons within the maximum equality of the competition.

“We are in a league that never gives you a break, every game is a battle that you have to prepare very well, because any team can beat you. I think that I compensate that inexperience with work, with illusion, with humility and with the desire to move the project forward. There is a lot of work and a lot of study. There is also important the dialogue with the players. I think it is relatively easy, because the message that is transmitted is of illusion, motivation and love for the project. I believe in it 100%. And when someone transmits something in which he believes blindly, everything is a little simpler, more direct. I think that when you work with that energy and that illusion, the people who are on the other side see that it is real”, points out the coach.

The exercise of perspective adds demand and pride to Puertas' new role, the last of a saga of coaches of the Palace club that have marked the story of the NEXUS ENERGY ASOBAL League. “There is the weight of Ademar's legacy. It's incredible to be able to put my name on the list of coaches who have directed the club and who are part of the history of ASOBAL. It's a bit dizzying, but that's why I have to have enormous humility. I am just a guy who has worked hard for and for the club, and who has been fulfilling stages. It's my shield. I've been playing here since I was 10 years old and every day that I've put on a shirt, I've carried a backpack or stuck a sticker in the class notebooks I wore the Ademar shield. Now is the time to seize this opportunity”, he insists, focused and determined to write his own story. Barça and Palau, next stop.