“I am confident in the future of sport”

The proximity of the first Pan American Youth Games, a historic event that will be hosted by Cali, Colombia, from November 25 to December 5, promoted our dialogue with Roberto Martínez Aroche, head of the High Performance department of Inder Provincial, although many other topics were addressed in our conversation, to which the manager, as usual, agreed without hesitation.

“So far we have a shortlist of 17 boys from eleven sports disciplines, as well as two coaches. Of these, seven athletes are already classified directly, two per capita from athletics, badminton and weightlifting, and one from skating. Still others can make the grade, including players who are four shortlisted “, says Martínez Aroche.

It is precisely baseball that draws attention, since it had been said that the base of the team would come from the one that just finished in fourth place at the U-23 World Championship. Will there be possibilities now for the Cienfuegos?

“Yes, it is possible, remember that it is the Youth Pan American Games. In the case of the ‘U-23 World Cup’, the International Federation authorized a group of young people who were no longer at the age of 23 to participate, because the date of the tournament was out of date. But now he’s young, so we think some of ours may be on the payroll. ”

Older hopes in Cali?

“As everyone knows, Yiselena Ballar Rojas was a bronze medalist in the recent World Championship Juvenile Athletics, in the specialty of javelin throwing, so she undoubtedly appears as one of the serious contenders for the podium at the Cali event. Another with great chances of doing a good job is the skater Richard Díaz Abreu, with an excellent performance in the qualifying event. And in the case of weights, fundamentally with Mary Félix Sarría Ruiz, there are enormous expectations after achieving a silver and a bronze medal in a contest held in Colombia itself. We cannot fail to mention Marelys González, our T-shirt, who despite his youth already has competitive experience in top-level events, so that double boat without a helmsman is pretending to sneak onto the podium. ”

Is the presence of Cienfuegos in other disciplines strange?

“ For example, in volleyball we had three representatives, but unfortunately that team could not attend the qualifier due to Covid-19 and they were left out, in a strong sport for Cienfuegos and Cuba. Likewise, it happened to us, among others, with a swimmer and several water polo boys, the latter an emblematic discipline for us. ”

About the restart of the school year This October 4, the director explains:

“Fundamentally we are going to prioritize the teaching part, so that student-athletes can update with their subjects and win the grade current. It had already been announced that this week the students of grade twelve of the Eide and third year of the EPEF began. Then, on November 8, athletes from sixth to eleventh grades will join, and on November 15, those from first to fifth. As a High Performance strategy, we intend that, while this process progresses, to carry out, together with Sports Medicine, some analyzes of all continuing athletes, since many of them have suffered the onslaught of Covid. We all know that this disease leaves sequelae, even serious, so we want to verify, from a scientific and technical methodological point of view, how the boys enter to face training later, since they will not all be able to receive the same loads in the preparation mesocycles , which must begin in the months of March-April 2022 ”.

Will the School Games return? ?

“Until now, the national leadership of Inder has reported that the School Games will not be held and Youth, and it is logical, because if, as expected, the current course ends in March and we start training in April, there is not enough time to compete in the month of July. At these ages there is no sports mastery, as it is a stage of initiation, consolidation and improvement, so it requires more preparation to be able to measure competitive objectives. ”

Undoubtedly, this generates an uncertain future for the results of Cuba, since this is where the athletes of the next Olympic cycles come from.

“Actually it is a great challenge that has the High Performance in our country. The pandemic has brought the preparedness system out of phase and it will be almost three years without competing. This has caused the youth category to multiply, while the school category is becoming zero. The strategies are then aimed at strengthening work at the grassroots, promoting a better talent selection and detection process, and working mainly with categories under eleven years old. From there will come the boys who will later be part of the Eide enrollment and we can guarantee, at least, two years of the next Olympic cycle, with pioneer athletes and schoolchildren, because I repeat that there will be many who, even without competing, will now be growing. the ranks of the youth quarry. ”

In spite of everything, do you trust the future?

“I am confident in the future of sport. And as I always say, I trust athletes, coaches, and family members. And we also include you, the members of the press, who help us a lot throughout the process. I think we will face the restart with more force. We have had more time to improve and to know where we are going and what we want. The cycle may not be the way we want it to be, but in it we are sure that we are going to promote to the national centers the athletes that Cuba needs for the 2028 Olympic Games. Even today, even though there has been no competition, we have a proposal of eleven new entries to the national structure. If we do things wisely, take advantage of our strengths and learn from our weaknesses, we can maintain the results that Cienfuegos showed in recent years. ”