MONTANANA ALL BUSINESS AHEAD OF HER FIRST GAME IN CHARGE

Anna Montañana begins her highly anticipated tenure as Great Britain women’s head coach on Sunday with Germany, her first opponents at the CopperBox Arena as part of the Subway Summer Slam series.

Montañana, a former Spanish international, who has extensive spells in the WNBA and national team youth coaching experience is relishing the challenge.

She held a lengthy training camp with her players in Manchester to prepare them for their Olympic-bound counterparts, is keen to use this fixture to see where her team is regarding growth and development.

“We have been in Manchester for ten days setting the tone for this new era where we have a very young group of players and a new staff,” Montañana said.

“We are excited to play in London, but we need to look at this game as something that is going to help us grow and understand where we are right now.”

Great Britain’s opponents, Germany, head to London to continue preparing for this summer’s Olympic Games in Paris.

Ranked just two places above Great Britain in 19th, the Germans possess top players, that have already competed in warm-up games in Poland.

Despite this, Team GB is determined to face this challenge head-on, inspiring confidence in their resilience. There is no question that Germany will pose a good first test for Montañana.

“Germany is a team that is going to the Olympics, and we know they are already a great team,” she said.

“For us, this game is one more step in our process to get where we want to be long term.”

The Spaniard, who succeeded Chema Buceta on 21 March, relishes her first game as head coach following an insightful first few months of getting to know the players and staff.

She is happy, and her mood is upbeat ahead of the Subway Summer Slam encounter.

“The players have been putting a lot of effort trying to learn and execute, it’s a long process, but they had a great attitude,” commented Montañana.

Tickets are still available for Sunday’s exciting Subway® Summer Slam clash with Germany, secure yours here.