Albert Español: "The two strongest rivals we train them two good friends"

SabadellAfter a decade living away from home, one of the great names of local water polo returns to Catalonia. Albert Español (Barcelona, 1985) has traveled half the world thanks to this sport, from China to Italy. Now retired as a player, he will coach CN Sabadell. For the moment, he has already achieved a first success by overcoming the first phase of the Champions League in a very tough group played in Georgia. The great challenge for the team from Vallès is huge: to stand up to Atlètic Barceloneta, the European champion. That is to say, the club where Albert was trained, where he won everything and where the coach is one of his best friends.

After winning everything at Barceloneta as a player, he went abroad. For 10 years he has lived away from home. Was he looking forward to returning?

— It is nice to return. And everything I have lived is beautiful. When I played for Barceloneta, I already left for two years to Italy and I returned. Afterwards, I continued to discover the world through water polo, learning, and adding experiences.

He has lived in Italy, where he has played in Florence and Syracuse, in Greece, France...

— In every place, life is lived differently and the game is played differently. In Italy, during one of the first training sessions, I was punched inside the pool. Just like that, as a welcome. They told me quite normally that they did it because I was the foreign player and I had to learn that they were willing to do anything to win there. It was a lesson. Later, I experienced the madness of Greece. I was playing for Olympiacos and when we had derbies against Panathinaikos, the police had to protect us. This level of madness in water polo does not happen anywhere else. The stands full of people singing, the tension...

One of the most surprising experiences he lived was in China.

— It was different. The context is the lead-up to the Tokyo Olympic Games. The Japanese had taken a step forward in water polo, so China wanted to improve, partly to annoy their neighbors. And they signed me to play with them... That is to say, I was like a player who acted as a role model. I trained and played with them, although I couldn't play in official matches. But inside the pool, I helped them improve. It was a strange year, because we were like a traveling circus with the 30 best Chinese players coached by Petar Porobic, a Montenegrin, may he rest in peace. We lived in hotels. Now two months in Greece, now in Montenegro, now a return to China... I started the adventure with two giant 23 kg suitcases, but in the end, I was so sick of airports that I put everything into just one. Imagine your whole life inside a suitcase for more than a year: sportswear, casual clothes, clothes for going to the gym, books, speakers... I learned a lot. It was enriching. The treatment was excellent. It also made me think. Many times all the news that reaches us from China is bad. And I take away the memory of magnificent people.

He speaks seven languages. Did he learn Mandarin?

— I studied it a little, but I don't speak it. I speak Catalan, Spanish, English, French, Italian, Greek, and German. And while I was playing, I studied industrial engineering at the UPC. Five years of study. I consider myself a meticulous person who is always trying to learn. If I had to define myself in three words, one would be curious. That is why I have wanted to see the world and live abroad. In fact, since I was 18, every summer I go on vacation far away to discover a new country, whether it be Cuba, Morocco, Brazil... Wherever it may be. I don't repeat destinations. Well, I did it once and it brought bad luck. I returned to an area of Indonesia that I had liked, the Gili Islands, and I was caught there in an earthquake where people died. I have also had the luck to receive proposals to go and help improve the level of water polo in places where they have no tradition, by holding camps. Once they called me from Sri Lanka. I didn't even know they played our sport. And it turned out that there are two institutes founded by the British over 150 years ago where young people with a certain economic level go, Royal College and St. Thomas' College. And when they face off in sports, especially cricket, the world stops. And I had to try to help one of the teams in the pool.

He retired in Tenerife, where he also started as a coach. Was that something you had planned?

— Not at all. One of my hobbies is surfing. And when I could, I would go to Tenerife to do it. Someone tipped off the people at Santa Cruz de Tenerife Echeyde, the local club, that I was hanging around there. And they called me offering me to play with them. I love Tenerife, but back then I was playing in the EuroLeague with Olympiacos in Greece with a good salary. And Echeyde had a modest team. I thanked them for the call while declining that offer. And since then, they called every year. Every year they insisted. They kept improving their project and I kept getting older, so in the end, our paths crossed. And while negotiating, they proposed that I act as both player and coach at the same time. I didn't expect it, but I like challenges. And I accepted.

Were you able to do much surfing, with so much work?

— Less than I would like (smiles). When I arrived, the team hadn't won a single game all season and if they hadn't been relegated it was because of the pandemic. And we kept improving until we reached the point of playing in the cup and reaching the semifinals of the European Challenge Cup. I also proposed and helped create the women's team, which was promoted to the Division of Honor. And we created a reserve team.

And now comes the challenge of CN Sabadell. The club from the Vallès region has been doing good work for years with Quim Colet on the bench, but Barceloneta seems unbeatable. Have they been asked to win titles?

— No. They haven't asked for titles or for me to defeat anyone. Quim Colet, who coached me years ago on the national team, has done a great job and now it's my turn to continue growing the project. It is a very big club, but with a very familiar treatment that I like. The club, logically, wants to win. And I, of course, always want to win. And if you have spent years finishing second, well, it implies that we must set out to defeat Barceloneta, from a place of respect and admiration for a team that has just won the Euroleague. My goal is always to win and improve.

And in front there is a Barceloneta that was his home. Where he has friends.

— Barceloneta is my club, I love it. Having to play against them doesn't mean anything, it's anecdotal. It doesn't change what I feel, it's part of the sport. I discovered water polo at a summer camp at CN Poble Nou. And because I liked it, they signed me up for Barceloneta, where I spent my whole youth. I lived at the club. I had my friends there. It will always be my club. I made friends there like Fran Fernández, who is now the coach of Barceloneta. He arrived as a player at the club from Madrid when he was 17 years old and never left. We love each other very much and now we are rivals. When the finals arrive, like that one of the Spanish Super Cup on October 14th, I have no doubt that we will send each other joking messages before and after. The fact that two friends are now coaching the two strongest projects is very beautiful.

At Sabadell trainsÀxel Corres, a player who has overcome cancer. He is an example of resilience. We have already seen him return to the pool and score a goal.

— Incredible, a guy with a great personality. With him we will go step by step, but when you meet people like this, they inspire you.