First of all, I would like to thank you for the comments made to the premiere article ” Starting the house with the roof ” here in “La Interzona”; my little corner in Trialworld. I also have to add that according to the number of visits and comments received directly or through social networks, I have nothing less than feel proud, encouraged and supported in this task.
Thank you all so much!
I would like to explain that before starting the series of articles I decided not to make comments after the series or answer those who had something to say. With this I only want to leave the door open so that everyone feels invited to participate freely with their interventions without the “threat” that I may enter to refute any contrary opinion when they arrive; that will surely arrive due to the topics that I keep in the inkwell. I won’t.
In these opinion pieces, the comments and opinions of all trialists are welcome, that is precisely what it is all about; of to awaken criticism and consciences with the ultimate goal of creating debate and improving our sport if that is possible; And I think it is; Especially at the level of the grassroots pilot and the amateur athlete.
In fact I think there is a very long road ahead if we want trial in Spain to come close to what it was in its golden years of the 70s (ironically the years of our freedom) and why not; to what could be if the necessary conditions were met; which are not so many and which we will be talking about little by little during this season that we have ahead of us. [LEER MÁS]
I leave you with my second installment; I hope it awakens some consciences and I promise you that the third installment will be very positive or at least different.
To finish the introduction; I would like to thank Sandra Gómez for allowing me to personalize my article with her name. Thank you so much champion!
SANDRA GÓMEZ’S SECRET
For those who don’t know her, Sandra Gómez is a very sporty young woman from Cercedilla. One who rides a motorcycle. Especially and for now on a trial bike, although his blue eyes are starting to look in other directions. That the world is very big and has infinite possibilities is something that Sandra has recently discovered.
Sandra Gómez combines her studies with 
Skiing, gym, jogging, cycling, climbing, motorbike, motorbike, motorbike and more motorbike. Enjoy the bike and to remind those who have forgotten it; Sandra until very recently was runner-up in Spain in trial, third in the individual world championship, team world champion and winner of a First Class Award in the Scottish Pre65 competing in front of 180 men made, and determined to win for themselves one of those coveted Scottish trophies. No one has given her anything.
This track record in a single year is not bad at all, for all but one of the trials in the world would like it. In any civilized, developed place where those who win titles for their country are esteemed, Sandra’s track record would be enough to not have to worry too much about her immediate sporting future.
I know Sandra Gomez and know firsthand about their circumstances, their environment, their goals and aspirations; Even if she doesn’t know it, I know her limitations too; sneakers, of course; and I know first-hand all the effort and sacrifice that has meant that Sandra has the enviable track record she has. She doesn’t know either; But I know the secrets of its success… Secrets of a success that I suspect is the same secret that hides the Spanish women’s trial in its entirety.
I’ve run toe-to-toe with Sandra the Scottish pre65s, I’ve trained with her a few times and I’ve helped her achieve one of her goals; participate in the Scottish Six Days Trial entering through the front door and above all with guarantees of finishing the very tough Scottish race and doing it with your head held high.
I will never forget her state of nerves when we took her to John Moffat’s house in Fort William after the Pre65s, where she would live with the family for those six days in May. She was not yet aware of the number of people who were going to see to it that her six days went smoothly; Good people like David, Andrew, Jean, Sandy, Alan, John… had pledged their word and would keep an eye on Sandra constantly. But be careful! Let no one detract from it, since the good physical preparation and the very high level of trial necessary to face SSDTs are something that Sandra had in her suitcase when she landed in Scotland.
In the three years that we have shared the pre65 What has caught my attention the most about Sandra is her winning spirit. It’s not enough to look good, Sandra wants to win and she could do it, she treasures everything necessary that a champion needs to become one; Although he still doesn’t have that inside Conductor to help all the physical and mental instruments work harmoniously to achieve this. That conductor is not so easy to obtain since very few people carry it with them.
I come in naturally and far fewer people are able to instruct you to awaken the inner champion.
: Hopefully in 2014 you will get it, Sandra. But above all, I hope we can repeat the pre65 if your new schedule allows it and thus be able to give you revenge… you said it could never happen, right? Well, it happened; Anything is possible as you can check.
In the first post of my blog; “Putting the cart before the horse” I wanted to show how The policy of promoting a sport by winning world titles can be misguided. In the case of women’s motorcycling and more specifically Spanish women’s trial, this policy proves even more wrong if possible until someone proves me otherwise.
Let me explain myself again.
Our trial girls have been the best in the world in 2012; Out of four possible medals, they won three; World Champion with Laia Sainz; third place Sandra Gómez and world team champions (Laia, Sandra and Mireia).
Congratulations girls, how proud all the trialists are of you!
Yes, I know that these are data from last year, but they are not very different from those of this year 2013 and serve to confront the reality of the Spanish women’s trial with the reality of the global figures of women’s sport published by the CSD referring to last year; 2012.
But let’s go straight to the CSD’s statistics on women’s sport. Out of 65 federated women’s sports in Spain; motorcycling ranks 62nd by number of licenses; third-to-last position; with a total of a scarce 197 federated including all the specialties of two wheels such as speed, motocross, enduro, quads, trial…
One hundred and ninety-seven federated in motorcycling (197), surpassing only billiards (20), motorboat (46) and boxing (80) below sports such as water skiing (233), American football (288), weightlifting (375) or kickboxing (459); and light years ahead of other enormously minority sports such as wrestling (1,101), pigeon farming (2,235), greyhounds (2,344), Olympic shooting (4,710) or petanque (4,974), to give some examples.
Yes, I know it’s awesome; But for every Spanish woman who does federated motorcycling, there are 12 Spanish women who breed and train competition pigeons and compete with them; another 12 that hunt with greyhounds in federated competitions; 24 who practice Olympic shooting and 25 who compete in pétanque; Who knew.
While the average number of women federated in Spanish sport is 20%, in motorcycling it is a ridiculous 1.3%.
how many girls do federated trials in Spain? Thirty perhaps? I think even thirty is a generous number. Let’s say thirty. With this figure, the average number of women in the federated trial would be a very poor 0.03%, although with a spectacular final result, since out of every ten federated women we have one of the long-awaited world medals with which the RFME and the CSD justify the work and promotion that is made of our sport.
A resounding and unappealable success if the goal is titles, but if the goal is the promotion of sport and free participation as a cultural asset, success becomes a resounding, resounding and shameful failure.
How is it possible that in a sport with such a poor female participation as trial in Spain, people of international stature like Sandra come out?
As I said before, I know what Sandra’s secret is. Of course, part of it is the hard work in physical preparation and training, without which no athlete could compete. But everyone knows that.
Your True and Hidden Secret, the one that the federations and politicians of the CSD do not know or do not want to recognize; a secret surely shared with the very few girls of Spanish motorcycling in general and trial in particular; A secret that has a name of its own, in fact many proper nouns; those of their personal environments. The names of those who work hard and help them achieve their goals; the names of those who make up for the shortcomings of the aid and the promotion of trial in Spain; in Sandra’s case, names like Mariano, María Luisa, Beltrán… and so many others that she knows better than anyone.
It wouldn’t be a bad thing for all of us to get to know them so that we can also thank them for your successes.
Javier Cruz
