Torrens Stays Mentally Tough

VALENCIA (Jeff Taylor's London Calling) - It was unthinkable just one year ago that Alba Torrens of Spain would right now have no chance of playing at the London Games.

The Spanish women had played at the last two Olympics, in Athens and Beijing, and in 2010 the team captured a bronze medal at the FIBA World Championship in the Czech Republic.

Torrens' first summer with Spain's senior team, in fact, was 2008.

She was just 18 years old when she play in the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament in Madrid.

After Spain claimed one of the five tickets to Beijing, Torrens travelled with the squad to the Far East and scored 18 points in her very first Olympic game against China.

Last summer, Torrens arrived with Spain at the EuroBasket in Poland as the hottest player in Europe, fresh off a EuroLeague Women and Liga Femenina-title winning campaign with Perfumerias Avenida, the team she played for in Salamanca, Spain.

Torrens had been named the MVP of the EuroLeague Women Final Four.

Another trip to the Olympics was there for the taking, or at least a spot in this summer’s qualifying event.

The basketball gods always have an ample supply of humble pie, though, and they served some to Torrens.

She started the EuroBasket Women in Katowice like a house on fire, pouring in 18 points in a win over Germany, 25 in a defeat to Montenegro and 17 in a victory over Poland.

She finished on a low, however.

In a 79-55 hammering by France, the team Spain had beaten in overtime in the Quarter-Finals of the World Championship, Torrens had 10 points on four of 12 shooting.

Spain stayed alive with a 66-57 victory over Latvia, but then crashed out of the tournament in a 75-71 defeat to Croatia, a team that had opened the tournament with an 86-40 humiliation at the hands of France.

Torrens had arguably the worst game of her national team career, missing all 13 of her shots from the floor and scoring just two points.

The winner of the EuroBasket Women, Russia, qualified for London, while Turkey, France, the Czech Republic and Croatia earned trips to the OQT.

"I believe it's still hard to digest even now,” Torrens says.

“We knew what the EuroBasket meant.

“It was disappointing not to achieve our aim of the EuroBasket but also not to qualify for the Olympics. It was a very hard moment and if I remember it, it's still painful.

"We have to think of our next aim, the pre-European this summer and return stronger.

“When you go through a situation like this one, you have to learn from it and return stronger.”

Only it’s not that easy for Spain, or Torrens.

If missing the Olympics hurt, a season-ending knee injury suffered by Torrens in January added insult.

She was playing with Galatasaray against Lotos Gdynia in the EuroLeague Women when her knee gave way.

Torrens tore her anterior cruciate ligament.

"More than ever, I have to be strong, positive," she says.

"I need to know how to deal with this challenge.”

Torrens will be in the prime of her career in 2015, when Spain attempt to reach the Olympics again.

If she remains mentally tough, Torrens should come back stronger.

I think she will.

"It's (knee injury) something that can happen and I have it very clear in my mind that I have to work very hard,” she said.

"The countdown to my return to the court has already started.”

Jeff Taylor

FIBA

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