The last performance of Tomás Alonso, the historic player of the Rosario Jockey Club

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“Saying goodbye is growing”recited Gustavo Cerati, it is his fourth album from his time as a soloist. Four, as the number of decades under his belt Tomas Eduardo Alonso, alias Cat, as he closes his career in the sport that he loved, will love and will continue to defend forever. Because although it is a farewell to the role of player, another is born Tomi that will continue linked to a legacy of growing the activity that he is so passionate about.

I had warned that it would be the last year”, Alonso began narrating.

From the start, I grabbed and said: ‘guys, this is my last first training’. From there, it was about trying to enjoy, The boys were always attentive to me, all the time, in that sense the group was wonderful because they took it great and I was proud of everything they did at the end, everything they did during the year“, he elucidated Tomi.

Not being able to give them time was already weighing more on me than on my family member.. My three children play hockey, I have two boys and a girl, and my Sundays are going to remain almost the same because I am going to follow them with my wife. But it seemed to me that we also had to step aside, make room for the generations that come down the line. I don’t know, I felt like that, I wanted to leave well and not physically destroyed or angry, I wanted to retire happy and luckily I was able to do it.”.

After a life linked to sport, sport became his life and the end could not be imagined in any other way than the way he dreamed it, enjoying it and surrounded by his loved ones: “It was a championship, with all the people happywith my family who supported me all my life there by my side, my parents, my wife, my cousins, my children, the whole club, because when I say the whole club it is the whole club, I was there waiting for my retirement, waiting for some final hug”.

But if we recap and go to where it all beganhe was not the first of the Alonso dynasty to begin a love affair with bocce: “My sister started playing and I would walk to look for her because we lived near the club. One day I approached, there were some older kids training, and you saw what hockey is like… if they see that you are half hesitant about wanting to participate, since there are few of us, they hook you at the touch and they gave me the stick, they explained a little and told me: ‘that’s it, see you next Wednesday’.

Although the situation was not so simple, Tomi He has a huge fanaticism for another ball, one a little bigger, size number five, and he had to make a decision almost entering his adolescence: “I am a football fan again, I love football, I love it. I never thought I would be so passionate about hockey.. There was a moment when I had to choose. It was something very strong for me. At 14 years old I had my last trip with soccer, it was an internal club championship, something recreational and From there I said, that’s it, I dedicate myself completely to hockey because at that time my training schedules coincided, which also affected me because I like to do things fully and not halfway.“, stated the Cat.

Within that context, Tomás told AM850.com some of the situations that the Rosario Jockey Club advocates to maintain harmony in practice: “The club promotes values ​​and the idea that sport is about enjoying, making friends and not stepping on other people’s heads.”. We live sport in a way of knowing how to win and also knowing how to lose. “I think that’s the most important thing.”.

There is a moment in Alonso’s career that created a precedent in his life and in the entire history of men’s hockey in Rosario, the journey he took to reach the 2005 Junior World Cup: “They were spectacular years, that whole process was excellent, a lot of nerve, a lot of self-improvement. I remember that one time the Netherlands came to play Club Ciudad de Buenos Aires here, and we played some spectacular games, and then we realized that we had a good team. Then everything was given for us to become champions, it was touching the sky with our hands, without a doubt“Alonso emphasized.

Although lifting the World Cup with Los Leoncitos is a fact that will never be forgottenthere was a day when he put on the Argentina shirt for the first time and that moment will remain in his memory for all eternity: “They called me to go directly to the Senior Teamto play some test matches against Chile, I was 17 years old, and in those matches I turned 18. The first moment we put on the shirt, we go to the circle for the harangue, Mati Paredes grabs me and tells meTomi, this is the cutest t-shirt in the world, you are not going to wear another t-shirt that is not prettier than this one‘. That phrase marked me with fire, and it was just like that”.

For years there has been an internal struggle in the clubs in the interior of Argentina about how to spread the activity among men.find a way to make it grow and add competitiveness, and Alonso showed his position on this: “At the interior level we lack development. There’s been a fight for as long as I can remember. It cannot be that in the cities there are so few clubs with gentlemen’s teams, that perhaps it is a political decision of each institution, which should be reviewed. Based on that, If each province starts to work better and goes out to compete with teams from Buenos Aires or wherever the best in the country are, that would level everything up and we could have many better players than we already have, who are very good, but I think that can give even more quality”.

There was a time when the Jockey Club decided to undertake the journey of joining the Buenos Aires Metropolitan Tournament, years of extreme, exuberant and unstoppable learning, and Tomi He recalled that passage from his career: “They were ten years of beautiful madnessas we always say in the club. We made the decision to leave the Rosario Association because they were not doing things well, hockey was dying and we needed to compete, raise the level for the club and the city. It was sensational because we were able to measure ourselves against the best teams in the country, traveling every fifteen days to Buenos Aires, the best years of hockey were thereplaying against top teams and testing ourselves all the time and it not only talks about the hockey part but the fact of traveling, having all the lines present to be able to complete, so that they do not disqualify us“It was something very hard from a logistical point of view, but in terms of sport, they were spectacular years.”

In the midst of so much contribution to his Rosario club and the national team, Tomás spent several seasons abroad, growing as a person and player, but when it came to returning to his roots he had his decision well thought out: “I went to Germany when I was 21, to a First Division club, a very tough league.it was amazing, a challenge to be alone and speaking another language. I consider that all experiences are good, no matter how difficult or easy they are, and that one was crazy. Later in Spain, I spent three seasons playing against world-class players, because at that time La Liga had a very high level and playing that tournament was incredible. Life in Santander was extraordinary, a medium-sized city, with the sea, with super nice people and the club too. I had the chance to stay, but I chose to bet on the familyreturn to Rosario and I think it was the right decision, because I finished my study, I started a family, perhaps I could have extended my sporting career to a better or higher level, but it meant postponing the other thing a bit, and I think I chose well.“Alonso emphasized.

As for the future, although the green grass will no longer be inside, Tomi He has a life contract with Jockey de Rosario, he enjoys it as such and does not set deadlines to continue fulfilling his desires as a coach: “I was always linked to men’s hockeyI have trained the lower editions all my life, since I was 28 years old, or before too, until I realized that in this last year I had all my classmates at some point, it was fun, funny and at the same time very cute”.

And he added, “I will continue down that path, this year it will be my son Jerónimo and next year it will be my son Pedro, for the moment I will stay in that age range, which are 11, 12 years and for later, Maybe think about continuing with the largest divisions until you reach Primera. I know I want to do it, but now it’s time to rest and gather strength to later continue linked to the First”.

“It’s not pride, it’s love”alleges the Cerati song mentioned at the beginning, something like this happened when the Cat gave up the bracelet that shows who is the most responsible for the team on the field: “I used the captain’s ribbon for many years in Jockey, Then I decided to leave her to make way for the younger ones.. In the last games I had to wear it again because Nico Acostathe current bearer of this, in a very generous act, “He gave it to me so that I can say goodbye to my people as captain.”.

To conclude, he expressed the meaning of that ribbon (which is customary to put on the left arm) in the Jockey Club in general and for the teams he directs in particular: “For me, being captain of a team means, no matter what happens, always setting an example; both with the referees, with the public and, above all, with the rivals. Being a captain is not about bossing around, but about being the leader of a team in every sense.. That for me is fundamental. I would never admit to seeing a captain of a team of mine having bad behavior or doing something out of character. This amateur sport instilled in me what a captain that should be and for me it was a pride to wear the ribbon for so many years in the club of my life.”, stated Alonso.