Ricardo García leads an expedition made up of Adrián González, Iván González, Borja Roldán, Lucas Madrid, Illán Gutiérrez, Nel Suárez, Elisa Fernández and José Manuel González
After Villa de Avilés, it’s time to turn the page and to do so the first stop will be this Sunday in Pola de Lena. The Asturias Senior Championship is here, an event in which Judo Club Avilés is presented with medal options in some weights. The coach takes a group of eight judokas to the Jesús Suárez Valgrande Municipal Sports Center: Elisa Fernández, Nel Suárez, José Manuel González, Adrián González, Iván González, Borja Roldán, Lucas Madrid and Illán Gutiérrez.
The coach sees the group as “good” for the regional event, although he hopes that there will be judokas who take a step forward, such as Lucas Madrid or Iván González. Regarding the rest, Illán Gutiérrez “maintains his line and we will try to improve the final results this Sunday” while Adrián González and Borja Roldán arrive at the first appointment of the 2024/2025: “The objective is to win, but we also do not have references to be able to test ”. A sure value is Elisa Fernández, of whom García hopes that “she will sweep as she has been doing all season and get us into the sector and later into the absolute.”
For García, a priority aspect is the mental one because he believes it plays a fundamental role throughout the competition. “It is an indirect component that is there and when judokas like Nel Suárez surpass it and see what they are capable of when their heads work, we will be in the wheel,” he noted. However, he is also clear on this issue: “They have to overcome that first obstacle. I can teach them, but it has to be them because in all other aspects we are improving.”
The coach from Aviles has already made a deep reflection on what happened at Villa after speaking with the kids. “We have mistakes that need to be polished and improved, such as the attitude when going out onto the tatami in a contact sport like this,” says García, although he also points out the advantages of the calendar: “I am lucky to have a competition this Sunday.” to put the improvements on the tatami,” he added.
Could a new competition a week after Villa be a handicap? “It is not always good, but in the case of some judokas in the group it is good for me to reset the counter to zero. They have nothing to lose and everything to gain because that pressure of a big tournament at home no longer exists. We are going to an absolute with many options so go for everything,” he concluded.
