The Cimarrones and the great challenge of the Copa América
The Copa América The flashes, news and gestivities are taken, But what happens in Charrúas lands is much more significant. Within the eve of the international contest, a referent of the cimarrones, Diego Labordehe dared to witness what happens by narrating, from the depths, the way he considers possible to fulfill the maximum feat that his entrails carry: “Do not let the men’s hockey die in Uruguay”.
The tournament that will house the eastern band will be qualifying towards the next World Cup in 2026but that mirage does not obnubilate the referents of Uruguay, but that they encourage them to seek their true desire … that the hockey of gentlemen last in time: “The main objective is to show a good face of men’s hockey and that this grows, that tomorrow they are the maroons and not players fighting so that there is a space. Achieve a structure and that the Federation can carry it forward as a sport itself and not as people looking for subsist, ”said Laborde.
And he continued, “What exists a Uruguayan local tournament, having teams of gentlemen playing hockey 11, generating a space for those small players who are starting get a place to go to train, to compete on weekends. Do not forget the interior of the country, which is very important. ”
Within that context, a club began efforts to expand the borders and Laborde acknowledged: “Today we have a team in Paysandú, the clover, who is playing with different Argentine teams, I think it is relevant to highlight what they do, although in Montevideo there is no league, they continue trainingthey have several players; Also inside, other places such as the most center area of the country, which are playing and there are children to cover the future. ”
But if we position ourselves in what will be the future of activity in Uruguay, Diego also mentioned what he glimpses for the short and long term: “It is being planned so that the selected juniors of men exist, that there is a hockey 5, one of U18, also that those players can start preparing and that there is a quarry for gentlemen. I think it is a giant challenge for all, especially the actors that are involved, the players, the clubs, I would also tell you, More than anything, the State, with the development and support they can provide through days in different parts of the countrythe federation obviously, but it is very complex in a country where it is very football, where you have basketball today as the second sport and rugby that has taken a lot of strength. ”
It’s difficult, but not impossible. Cimarrones have the possibility of hosting a tournament after many years and in Uruguay they do not feel it as a benefit hosting itbut an opportunity to grow the activity that both gave them and athletes and human beings: “The tournament that touches us is a pride, sometimes we do not give it a dimension that from the 2008 South American that a competition is not played in Uruguay, Then having this opportunity and showing the sport to those people who have interest and want to know it, it is very important, it is a very hard tournament for us, Today our focus is to prepare in the best way, of one to which we are not accustomed, and that is why the amount we are training, we have a teacher that is very focused on that, because we know that the physical part is key to be able to face the quality of parties that we are going to have”
Despite not having the way to train for a contest of this nature, Cimarrones are working silently and beating efforts, with the idea of arriving at the tournament without being able to reproach anything: “We train from 10 to 12 at night, they are demands that for everyone’s daily life it is very difficult to face it. When we returned now in January, we began to become aware and to give dimension to what we were going to face and What we needed to put each of us to get their best and with the idea we have, which is not only to participate in the tournament, because we had to be local, but to show a good version of ours despite the reality we have today.”
‘But let’s make a deal: I would like to count on you. It is so nice to know that you exist. You feel alive and when I say this, I mean, even if it is up to two, even to five. Not for him to go, horny, in my aid. But to know, for sure, that you know you can count on me‘, Mario Benedetti, a Uruguayan writer and poet, wrote, with the simplicity necessary to – transpire – to be awarded to Diego Laborde addressing hockey: “The claw will never be missing and it is the first thing we have as the basis of our entire pyramid: delivery, that is what the hockey referents have instilled us. Today I am 30 years old, For me hockey in my life has been fundamental and is part of what I trained as a person. With 15 I went to play a tournament to Río Janeiro, we organized everything and stayed in apartments in Copacabana. It was crazy. It was not only what we gave before the court, but outside, after arriving from a game, going to super to buy the food to cook you. If there is something that will not be missing in this team is to give everything for the partner next to”
To culminate with any other analogyLaborde granted the message they gave to him as a legacy … the same one that tries to broadcast until he decides to do it from outside the field: “Sport is the place where you form as a person, it is not only to play hockey but the values you receive, that instill in you and want to convey. Today, 30 years, If I’m playing it is because I feel the responsibility of not letting men hockey die; And that, if there is something that can help, I will be there. Our main north is that, together with the referents, the federation and the current coaching staff, to leave armed so that tomorrow the player who is in the team thinks only of playing, ”Diego finished.
