Sport is not the problem, it is part of the solution. In times of pandemic, those of us who practice sports regularly or sporadically have suffered the restrictions aimed at counteracting covid-19, like the entire population, whatever the age.
Culture, rightly, takes a step forward claiming the resumption of its activity, at least in the territories least affected by the new coronavirus. It is a cry to which sport also joins, but not by whim, but for health, being aware that staying well also depends on a good diet and a whole set of healthy habits.
Sport is movement and contact, in some disciplines more than in others, but we must not forget the social component that it carries with it, allowing the integration of people and promoting discipline and respect between practitioners and coaches, values that I have perceived in first person as a Canarian wrestling athlete and cultivated later as commander of the first team of the Unión Sur Yaiza.
With the confinement, almost all of us gained some weight and racked our brains immersed in a situation totally unknown to everyone, to ordinary citizens, to governments and even to the scientific world that has not yet discovered the vaccine.
As we could, we coped with the situation and we may still be intimidated by uncertainty, and health, the economy and well-being are at stake, but like a good athlete, we must be strong and brave in defeats and not relax after victories.
With the hygiene and individual and collective safety protocols to train and compete, together with the conditions that closed and outdoor sports facilities must meet, we ask, in the name of sport, for the start-up of the activity, always ensuring respect for the limitations ordered by the health authorities.
Children and the elderly have perhaps been the groups most affected by the confinement, so I want to send a message in favor of them. Sports schools are almost essential for the development of minors. We are very clear about this in the municipality of Yaiza, and hence our commitment to them. And sport and maintenance exercises for the elderly is a determining factor in staying healthy in body and mind.
Until before the pandemic, almost a thousand children and young people practiced and competed in different disciplines. Now, having overcome the most difficult moments, we want to conjugate the verbs in the present with the illusion and confidence of also doing it in the future. All, absolutely all sports, as well as contact disciplines, such as karate, jiu jitsu or our beloved Canarian wrestling, should be a concern of the sports authorities to coordinate with the health authorities and the federations protocols that allow their resumption.
From Yaiza, we are and I am willing, as an athlete and councilor responsible for the Sports Area, to collaborate with schools, clubs and families so that our return to the courts is as safe and joyful as possible. Sport is health, and if we repeat over and over again that we work for the health of society, we cannot exclude an essential activity, just for that, if it seems little, the cry of sport.
