ESP – Colinas excited to return to South America but as coach of Spain

MADRID (2011 FIBA U19 World Championship for Women) - There was a touch of irony last week when the draw was held for this summer's U19 FIBA World Championship for Women.

The four sides that ended up in Group D were Brazil, Chinese Taipei, Slovenia and Spain.

The coach of Spain, Carlos Colinas, guided Brazil at the 2010 FIBA World Championship for Women in the Czech Republic.

Unable to commit to living full time in Brazil and away from his family back in Spain, though, Colinas' tenure proved to be brief.

He returned home and was immediately installed as the coach of the under-19.

However, Colinas will return to South America in July because Chile is where his Spanish team will play this summer.

"The stakes are very high," Colinas said, referring to Spain's second-place finish at the 2009 U19 FIBA World Championship for Women in Thailand.

"It is clear that we must be ambitious, and compete to get as high as possible.

"With hard work and enthusiasm, which are the basic ingredients to have for the tournament, we will fight while there."

There are many unknowns going into the event, including the competitiveness of the other teams.

Therefore, Colinas has not announced specific goals.

"It is difficult to know whether traditional countries like the U.S. and Australia will have a good generation of players," Colinas said.

"There is a degree of mystery ... Canada has a very good team, for example."

Colinas does have some insight into the Brazilian team he will coach against.

"It's a very compact group with players who have been playing together since the under-15 team," he said.

"They take this competition very seriously, working with great awareness, and are concentrated ...

"They will have the typical Brazilian style of play, with players who have great physical talent and the ability to add work."

FIBA