Juan Martín López, the Olympic champion who wants to take Argentina again to the top

Being a professional athlete is something that many aspire but few arrive. But Being an athlete who represents his country, who remains so many years at the highest level and participates in an Olympic Games in which he ends up winning nothing less than the golden medalit is even more complicated even than Many dream but few manage to fulfill.

Well, all that lived and fulfilled it Juan Martín Lópezformer player of Banco Provincia, Olympic champion in Rio 2016 with the lions and current coach of Las Leoncitas, River Plate Women and Banco Men’s Province.

Today, years after his retirement as a player and already in another facet of his life as DT, The “cat” told, in an exclusive talk with AM850 Hockey, how he transmits all his experiences, his experience and his ability as a athlete to the Leoncitas: “From my experience, I try to transmit first what it meant and what the Argentine National Team means for me,” he began.

And then he continued: “Not anyone gets this shirt. It is the most beautiful place in the worldyou have to value it, enjoy and take advantage of it. We are on that path: teach them and show them what this shirt is. The first thing to have a leoncita is passion and love for the shirt And I think our teams have it. ”

The three times Pan American Gold (in Guadalajara, Toronto and Lima) spoke about what comes to Las Leoncitas: the Juniors Pan American Games in August and the World Cup Junior in December. “Prior to the Pan American Games we have a four nations this month in Rosario, which India, Chile and Uruguay comes. The team needs competition, you need to playand it is good that these selections come, “he said. And he continued:” We train from Monday to Thursday, Monday and double shift Wednesday and We no longer stop to the Pan American and then to the World Cup in December. It is concentration, but every week they will continue to be this way. “

On the World Cup, the Olympic medalist explained: “It is far but close to the World Cup, time passes fast. It is good because the last World Cup was made in Santiago de Chile too and it went very well (they finished runner -ups). We know the court, the hotel, we are two hours by plane from our homes and families can accompany, that gives them a different energy. Hopefully we have to make a great world cup like the one we made last tournament. ”

Going a little more towards his present clubs, the “cat” talked about the great start of the River Plate championship in this first wheel of the women’s metropolitan tournament: “We are very happy with the girls and the start of the subway. The group, in the human part, is much better than was last year and that shows inside the court. They are with a different predisposition and I think they had a year of work too, they began to understand what we want. But I repeat, It is a team under construction and they know at the time we are. “

And continued on he Work process in Las Vikingas, a “team in formation” as he recounts: “We do not consider that River goes to the playoffs, we consider making a different year with respect to last year, training differently, understanding ourselves better with the players and that I think is going to get closer to little by fighting the positions above. We have a huge margin: we have to work hard with the ball, without the ball, in the physical part much more. It is a team that has the roof away. ”

“The difference between directing River Plate or Banco Provincia and Las Leoncitas is very large because the shirt is different. In the club you only prepare when you are there, the selection player is 24 hours a day seven days a week. Banco Provincia always demands to be up and fight championships and River we want to take it to that place that does not have it yet, “said the former defender.

Juan Martín Lópezwho was part of the technical body of Banco Province in the last three years, He took advantage of in this 2025, after the departure of Ignacio “Nano” Ortíz, to take command of the pirate ship: “It is a team that has come with a good job for many years and the team has to be told little. I was lucky to be in the last three years in the coaching staff then I know the team. We are working a little the appearance of the ball without ball, which we want to play with a little higher pressure than we were doing. But the rest is almost the same and I have players who make me easier“

Finally and to close the note, López confessed how he does to handle the three teams at the same time and obtain, so far, good results: “I like what I do and while it is a job, I do not take it as such. Training Bank is the most beautiful thing, with the selected the same and with the River girls it was a job we wanted to do because we had never touched this to build a team from below. I am surrounded by friends and trained people. ”