Those who practice any sport know how sacrificed it is to reach the top. No matter the discipline, age or category, there are many obstacles that stand in the way, all mixed with the luck factor. Four Aragonese were able to overcome all these problems to win the gold medal in the Spanish judo championship held last December in Madrid. In cadets, Alba Ramírez, from Club Ibón de Huesca, won the gold metal (-52kg). In children, the gold medal was obtained by Pilar Ayensa, from JC Zaragoza (+63 kg), Javier Benedí, also from Club Ibón (-66 kg) and Carlos Martín, from Club Judo Huesca (-46 kg).
In general, Aragon’s passage through the national tournament was remarkable. The Aragonese delegation won 18 medals, finishing in fourth place in the general classification by autonomous community. In addition, in the National Kata they got a silver and a bronze. From the Federation they highlighted that all the medalists are part of their modernization program and that two of them also belong to the sports modernization classroom launched this year at the IES Sierra de San Quilez de Binéfar. But what is curious is the case of Alba Ramírez and Javier Benedí, who, in addition to belonging to Club Ibón, are both from Tierz, a town in Huesca with only 800 inhabitants. “We are not even 1,000 inhabitants in the town and two are champions of Spain,” says the young woman’s father.
Both Ramírez, 17, and Benedí, 14, are tierzanos “for life.” In fact, the two must go to Huesca to train, where the Ibón gym is located, 6 days a week. “We train from Monday to Saturday and do physical training, as well as judo technique and normal judo training,” explains Raúl Poblador, a 23-year-old judoka and coach at Club Ibón.
“I myself do not realize how much I have sacrificed and sacrifice every day to get where I want to be”
“Winning the Spanish championship was a dream since I was little”, says Alba Ramírez, who expresses that the experience was “very nice, because it has been the year in which the most competitors have qualified from the club (12 participants), and, in addition, Raúl was able to come as coach of the Aragonese team. That he was with me all the time on the trip gives me a lot of peace of mind and self-confidence”.
For its part, the young Benedí sums it up as “one of the best experiences of my life”. For him, it was a flood of happiness and, moreover, peace of mind, because “the weeks leading up to the tournament were very tough mentally.” And for Poblador, coach of both, It’s a real pride because “they are my first champions of Spain”.
But no one said it would be easy. Even without reaching the age of majority, these athletes must sacrifice a lot to get where they are and, despite everything, no one guarantees their success. “I myself do not realize how much I have sacrificed and sacrifice every day to get where I want to be. Mainly, parties, going out, school trips, vacations with friends…”, says Ramírez, who has also seen this situation increase with the pandemic, since he avoids going to many places so as not to get infected and “miss training sessions”. , follows a strict eating diet, which, he admits, “It’s the worst thing I carry, because when I go out or with my friends I see food that I can’t eat.”
“Although judo is an individual sport, it is impossible to achieve great things without being surrounded by good people”
There is an almost eternal debate about the relationship between sports and studies. There are many cases in which the solution is to stop training to focus on studying, but for the young judokas from tierzanos, this has not been a problem, but rather a reinforcement. Both have achieved an outstanding average in their respective courses -2nd year of Baccalaureate and 3rd year of ESO- and, in addition, they have performed excellently in their championships, without having missed training. “Doing a lot of sport, and above all at a high level, teaches you a lot of values and discipline that you transfer to the field of studies. It has taught me to be more consistent and organized, to take advantage of the time I have to study to concentrate”, Ramirez details. Javier Benedí agrees with this experience, because despite “being complicated, it is perfectly possible”.
“Although judo is an individual sport, it is impossible to achieve great things without being surrounded by good people”, says the young man, who finds his support in his parents, his teammates at Club Ibón and in his coach, like Alba Ramírez. “My parents give everything so that I can arrive, from taking me and bringing me every day, to buying me things for my diet, they help financially with all the competitions… In addition, they know me very well and know when to cheer me up”.
Raúl Poblador does not believe that there is a secret formula for success. “I have tried to get the boys and girls to train, because to win you have to train a lot. When you take the good physicists with good heads, having trained a lot, it’s a matter of time”, details the coach. Since he was chosen as coach, he has tried to “professionalize” the club, which already has 350 members -in all categories-.
But what comes next? For Alba Ramírez, the gold medal is just the beginning: “My goal is to go out to all the European Cups possible to start competing at that level. My coach taught me that the important thing was the senior, because it is the category that really matters.” The change of category is notorious, and both young people are going to suffer it, since Benedí goes from infant to cadet and Ramírez, from junior to senior. “My goal is to qualify for the next Spanish championship, when I start a new category it will be much more complicated, and from then on, do the best I can”, concludes Benedí.
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