Gatzoulis: “Ethniki is in an excellent condition – maybe coach Spanoulis is even better than a player”

In the difficulties but also in her very good condition National team in view of him Pre-Olympic Tournament the “official sweetheart” gymnast mentioned Andreas Gatzoulis, speaking on EEC radio. “He is the same as a player, if not better“, he said about coach Vassilis Spanoulis, while referring to Giannis Antetokounmpo but also Luka Doncic. His statements in detail:

For the situation the team is in: “The team is in good shape. We have had a good training session. It was a period where we did a… surgical training. We divided the 15 days we had at our disposal into three periods. Each period consisted of three training sessions plus a friendly. It was difficult to adjust. We had divided them into 4 groups. The players of Olympiakos, Panathinaikos and Fenerbahce were one class, who had played a long time in many matches. The second category was the players who had a short time participating in the two “eternals”, the third was with players who had finished their championships early and the fourth was Giannis, which is a category by itself. We had four different pieces where we had to join them all into one. That’s why some took more days off.”

For the three periods that separated the preparation: “In the first period, which was until the first friendly against Poland, we tried to bring all the pieces a little closer. Some were tired, some untrained, some in an in-between state. We tried for the first four days to put the pieces together. The second phase, which was up to the Acropolis, we did the reintegration of Giannis. In the last part, which was from the Acropolis to the Pre-Olympics, it was the formation where we trained very well and are in pretty good shape. With the tests we did, we knew how tired each player was and what training we had to do. So we knew what his limit is, that’s why we haven’t had an injury all this time. The training we did was very careful, down to the last detail. You cannot understand how much we had prepared for each day.”

Regarding the reinstatement of Giannis Antetokounmpo: “Yiannis had played his last match on April 9 and was coming off an injury. He made a great effort, wanted and wants to play a lot in the pre-Olympic tournament. We had a perfect collaboration with the Milwaukee staff, they didn’t raise the slightest objection to what we asked for. These 15 days went better than expected.”

Regarding Giannis Antetokounmpo’s situation: “Yiannis was out for 2.5 months. We are talking about an athlete in his last 11 years in the NBA who has been in the top five for 8 seasons. He wanted very much to play in the National Team, he has put too much pressure on himself, he has trained too much, spent many hours in the gym, had many hours in individual training and less in team training. In the match he played, he played three five minutes. He had to play so much because he had so much training in his legs for that period of time. The changes were targeted. It is in good shape, every day and better. He’s had a lot of training. The main thing is the child’s willingness to help. He only plays 100%, he can’t play 99%, he has no… cutter, he only plays at the maximum. And in training he does the same thing.”

As for when they started all this preparation for the players: “From October-November. Then Vassilis and I started talking every day about how this whole plan would be made. The working hours were long. We tried to have all the scenarios in our mind. We followed the players throughout the season, how long we played, we had daily communication about how training, rest, everything will be.”

On whether it is better for players to play with the National Team right after the end of the season: “I don’t want many days of rest from the end of the season until the first practice of the National team. The players of Olympiakos and Panathinaikos were not in a bad condition, but in a better condition than expected. From the tests we had done we saw this, which is why those who played had taken more days of rest. We arrived at the strain of each one according to what we had seen in the hematological tests. The training was targeted, we knew exactly what training everyone had to do, we didn’t have to go over the limit.”

For the motivation and will of the players: “The players are very motivated, they have a very good relationship with each other, they are a team and they want it very much. The trainings we do are for… seminar. It becomes a “war”, we stop training because we are afraid that someone will hit us. Our training is of a high standard.”

For Vassilis Spanoulis: “I have known Vassilis since I was 13 years old. He is the same as a player, if not better. He is more involved than he was as a player. What he said yesterday (01/07), is the conclusion of everything I said today. We have trained well, we have prepared well and we have no pressure because we are very well prepared.”

On how Luka Doncic is a constant presence for the Slovenian National Team: “He has great quality as a player, huge. And secondly, he is very strong. It doesn’t seem like it, but he is very strong. Of course he knows how to… steal basketballs. He can protect himself, which Giannis doesn’t do, because he never stops running.”