GUARDIOLA VILLAPLANA Gedeon

General
FINANCES
He says financial concerns were one of the main reasons behind his decision to leave Spain and play club volleyball in Germany in 2014. "They [foreign clubs] pay you much more and treat you like a true professional, especially in France and Germany. Economically and sportingly they value you more. That is why many of the top Spanish players and coaches are abroad. In Germany the patronage law allows teams to be structurally much better formed, with a lot of departments, much more professional. The state compensates the sponsors who help the clubs. That is missing in Spain for the league to be more powerful. Many of us have left and many sponsors have stopped sponsoring." (lasprovincias.es, 04 Feb 2021)

NAME ORIGIN
In 2021 he spoke about the origins of the names given to himself and his twin brother Isaias. "It has to do with my great grandfather. His father was a sexton of the Petrer parish [in Spain] and had two twin sons. The first was clear to be called Isaias and, when he saw that there was a second, he opened the Bible and the name of Gideon came out. Then my maternal grandmother, seeing that we were also going to be twins, told my mother to give us the same names, Isaias and Gedeon. I don't know anyone with the same name as me. My grandfather, despite being called Pepe, everyone in town called him 'El Gedeon'." (lasprovincias.es, 04 Feb 2021)

PSYCHOLOGY
He says his psychology studies have helped him during his handball career and believes they will continue to be useful as he pursues a career as a coach in the future. "It helps me focus on the games. I want to apply psychology when I am a coach. In sports, you have to manage victory, defeat, earning money, or even not earning it. Few professionals have a life as sacrificed as a high-level athlete. Especially because of the time you spend outside without seeing your family." (lasprovincias.es, 04 Feb 2021)

DONOR
In 2020 he tested positive for COVID-19 and decided to donate his blood in order to help improve knowledge of the virus. "I really had a bad time with it, but luckily it is over now. People like us who had the virus and have antibodies can help through the plasma technique. Once I learnt that by donating my blood I could help to get more information about the virus and help people that way, I did not doubt it for a second." (Comite Olimpico Espanol Twitter profile, 08 Jun 2020; mundodeportivo.com, 29 Mar 2020)