Rocío Sánchez Moccia: an unforgettable last chapter with Las Leonas

SANTIAGO DEL ESTERO (Special Envoy) — End of an era and end of the career of one of the most important representatives in the history of Las Leonas. Rocío Sánchez Moccia (36) He played his farewell game with the albiceleste shirt. It was nothing less than a meeting for one more podium and with a bronze medal included. In the Paris 2024 Olympic Gamesthe fourth consecutive participation to his credit, and in which She was nothing more and nothing less than a standard bearer at the first day ceremony. This Sunday, December 15, it was official the captain’s retirement with a tribute in Santiago del Estero prior to the Pro League match between Las Leonas and Netherlands.

Before being a partner of successful Leonas like Luciana Aymarthe best in history, Belén Succi, Delfina Merino, Soledad García, Silvina D’Elía, Carla Rebecchi, among others, Sánchez Moccia had his youthful career in Las Leoncitas. In 2008, he participated in the Junior Pan American Championships in Mexico where he took third place. In 2009, she was part of the team that won the Pan American Cup and that same year she was junior world runner-up in Boston, United States.

The story of the current captain of the Argentine senior women’s team began 13 years ago. Two months before turning 23 He made his official debut against England in the 2011 Champions Trophy. It didn’t take long until he scored the first of the 36 goals he scored in his career with the National Team. It was against New Zealand. A bit key because it helped Las Leonas finally reach the final of the competition and win the silver after losing to the Netherlands in the shoot-outs. Perhaps, for her and for Argentina, a premonition of what would come later. Defining matches against the Dutch that marked many chapters. But it was also adding a silver medal in his first championship.

And revenge would come quickly. After the frustration with the silver in Guadalajara 2011, He won his first Champions Trophy championship with Las Leonas in 2012. Title that they revalidated in 2014 and 2016 (after beating the Netherlands in the final). The joys kept coming. He climbed to his first Olympic podium in London 2012, with a very meritorious silver medal. Medal that would be repeated nine years later at Tokyo 2020 (2021).

The record continued adding lines for Sánchez Moccia. With another Pan American silver in 2015 and a Pan American Cup obtained in 2017. The wear and tear of so much travel after participating in Rio de Janeiro 2016, the 2018 World Cup and more competitions made Rochy one day say: “Enough.” In 2019 he decided to move away from the National Team. “It was a bit of saturation. The national team requires a lot from you, a lot of commitment, a lot of responsibility, and whether you like it or not, there is pressure. I needed a break, to take that time to see if I was willing to give 100 percent again. I took the decision to take that step aside because the team needs you to give everything. It was just the change of coach, Chapa (Retegui) told me that there was no problem, that it was fine, that I should take that time to think. That half passed. of year, and he gave me the opportunity to train again.”the player who emerged from Liceo Naval said at that time.

However, the big carrot for any hockey player, the Olympic Games, was approaching. And the idea of returning emerged again. “I always thought about coming back”he confirmed at the time. And he came back. But, the return brought, in the midst of the pandemic, a change forever: she became pregnant with her first daughter, Francisca. March 10, 2021 would surely be the most important day of your life with the birth of Fran. And her dream of being an Olympic Lion again had another taste. “I love being here (in Las Leonas). It is a privilege, an honor, I love playing. That is what leads me to be strong and bank on what being a mother entails at the same time“she said in a talk with AM850.com a year after becoming a mother. In the middle the best would come: achieving second place in Tokyo. And, the following year, in the World Cup. Incidentally: with an unforgettable goal of his in the semi-final against Germany, in the shoot-outs.

The 2021-2022 Pro League and the 2023 Santiago Pan American Games were the last great achievements for the captain of Las Leonas. Time passed and a new Olympic process approached. Months before arriving in Paris, Rochy said: “I really enjoy everyday life”.

And the last great chapter of his story arrived: August 9, 2024 He said goodbye to Las Leonas with a new medal. This time, bronze. But also, with the particularity of being captain again and, also, flag bearer at the opening ceremony of the Games. Endless emotions for Sánchez Moccia who ended his albiceleste career with new joy.

Under a general ovation, in Argentina, more precisely in Santiago del Estero, the tribute arrived. For a Lioness who knew how to wear the Argentine jersey to the top and her name will be engraved in the Olympus of the most important athletes in the history of the Albiceleste country.