Sugoi Uriarte trains with his partner, Laura Gómez, at the High Performance Center in Valencia and continues to be faithful to his work philosophy, which he wants to instill in his students, who are already successful worldwide, something he has already done in the past when he competed. The man from Gasteiz can boast of having won a gold medal in a European Championship (Vienna, 2010) and a silver medal in a World Championship (Rotterdam, 2009). The Olympic medal was close. He was close to bronze at the London Olympics in 2012, in which he finished fifth. A thorn that he hopes to be able to remove soon with any of his promising students.
How do you assess your time as a coach so far?
After the Rio Games, practically the next day I went to the tatami with my teammates and I already greeted the coaches. From there, I took over, together with my wife who also retired in Rio, and we took over the High Performance Center in Valencia and now we are the coaches. The truth is that at the moment we are happy, since we have qualified people for the Tokyo Olympics, we have won World and European Championships. The Olympic medal eluded us, but I hope to get rid of that thorn of losing the bronze medal to a student of mine.
What differences do you see between being a competitor and a coach?
At the end of my career, I also had that role of captain of the team and of leading, and already almost a bit as a coach. So I don’t see much of a difference. Of course, the most different thing I see is that it is very difficult to assess the results, because you go to the championship and some win and others lose. In those cases you look more at those who have lost to see what they can improve on and you enjoy the victories little. When you are a competitor, on the other hand, the day you win you are euphoric and when you go as a coach, surely two win and one loses, and you are sad for the one who has lost or you feel responsible. Therefore, it is much more difficult to assess the victories.
So the psychological aspect is much harder when you are a coach?
Yes, and it is also very different because when you are a competitor the one who goes out on the mat is you. As a coach I suffer much more in competitions, because many times the coach carries that competitor’s backpack of all his pupils.
What is the key to success in judo?
I believe in work and not in miracles. I believe in working, working and working, and surely the results will come that way. In addition, in the elite, everyone works, so you want and you have to be different, because everyone is very prepared worldwide, they all have good coaches, psychologists and good physical trainers. In that sense, we in Valencia try to work and improve day by day. For this, we have a High Performance Center with a tatami of 800 square meters and a very good gym and I think we have everything we need to train future champions. As I said, my key is none other than to work like the most and that way the result will surely come, but many times it is not like that and the one who works the most does not get the result, but in the end it is my method. In that sense, I was not a competitor with exceptional qualities either, but my greatest quality was that I could work twice as hard as the other, it was as if I was doped at the time of training. With that work you are doing your body and mind.
Which aspect is harder in judo: the physical or the psychological?
The psychological, without a doubt. The physicist with patience is getting. It is true that there are physical qualities that are not gained, such as speed, but power can be gained if you improve strength. In the end, when everyone works, they generally do well. The one who is not a champion or does not carry that champion gene at the first change gives up. Therefore, the head is differential. I do not value the great competitor when he wins, but when he loses, because he usually gets discouraged and that is when I value the competitor and whether he can reach the top or not. In the end, everyone at a certain moment loses and it is in those moments when the training habit is more important than ever. When you are motivated it is very easy to go to training, but when you lose, being the first the next day to go to the mat for two hours is complicated. Achieving that habit when you are not so motivated costs and that is why I like to value the good athlete.
What have you learned so far in this stage as a coach?
Especially team management. When you’re a competitor, you don’t worry about these things and when you’re a coach you don’t think about anything else, that is, you don’t think about how to improve the team so that it performs better. On the other hand, as a coach, managing the team is what costs me the most. For the people of Vitoria to understand me, I am a “duskista”, with the idea of training hard to learn. Although yes, nowadays society is different and parents make their children “fools” and make things too easy for them. When we were little, we went to the street and we fixed ourselves. For example, the other day Ibon Navarro commented that when you were punished as a child you took two “hosts”, one at the ikastola and the other at home so to speak. Now, they punish you and the father goes to scold the teacher, because they have punished him. Today, children live in a different society and we have to adapt.
How does a coach of your style manage this change in society?
In the end, I try to educate them with a good base of values, such as the culture of effort. With that, I consider that I educate them from a young age so that they see that this is the only way to reach the end. They don’t pay me to have more competitors, they pay me to train and get the best results. So, since I don’t depend on having more people, I consider that some students will fall by the wayside, but I try to set the bar high, so that they give me good results. Those who fall by the wayside, those values are also valid as a basic education, but they are not useful to be professional judokas.
Now he is training with big stars like Daria Bilodid.
Yes, and also, I have two star students, who are Julia Figueroa and Ana Pérez Box, who are the two Spanish who are runner-up and third in the World Championship. For her part, Bilodid is the champion in the weight category, where Figueroa competes and who went all out in Tokyo. In addition, Bilodid at 21 years old has also placed third in the Olympics, she is a two-time senior world champion and two-time senior European champion. In the end, Daria is surely the most famous athlete in Ukraine and when the bombardment started, she called me on the phone and told me that she wanted to come to Valencia. Of course I opened the doors for her, because in the end she is one of the best Judo competitors. Everyone wants to help her, especially because, in addition to being a great judoka, she is a spectacular person. She has come here with her mother and her grandmother and intends to stay.
How does a coach manage the egos of the students?
That they be one more and that they earn the respect of their colleagues through work. That is, they should be an example and their colleagues want to follow them. I don’t give them leadership directly, I make them earn it.
What is your next goal?
The Olympic medal in Paris and that would also serve to remove that thorn that I have nailed. Of course, today I am very happy, because we have achieved our first medal in cadet, which was the only one we needed to obtain as a coach, since in junior and senior we had already won the European and World championships, and a few weeks ago we got a silver in the European cadet. I mention this because surely these students are the ones who will have a great future. Those kind of people also motivate me a lot. Going to a championship of these characteristics and winning a medal is one of the great motivations in the short term, but in the medium term it is the Olympic medal.
Is it feasible to change the mentality of your students regarding the society in which we live today?
It is difficult to change that, because they live in the society that has touched us or that we are marking and I say it like this, because I am already a father and I feel part of it for better or for worse. We coaches have to adapt without changing our base or our principles and that is one of our great facets. I comment on it as a judo coach, but I also follow other coaches from different sports, such as Ibon Navarro, David Gil, Dusko Ivanovic or Pablo Laso, and I pay attention to them.
Is there someone in particular who can help you or give you advice?
No, I go watching and observing. I love basketball and I pay close attention at a tactical and strategic level and even at the level of statements. It is true that basketball is something that I inherited from my mother and it is something that has stayed with me, but I command judo together with my wife, Laura Gómez. Plus she has more of a left hand than me. If I overdo it, she goes and puts her hand on his back, that is, we complement each other very well at the level of coaches.
With more perspective, how do you value your sports career now?
I always think that I have been runner-up in the world, European champion and fourth in the Olympic Games. It is frustrating not to have that medal, especially considering that it was my great goal, but I have always thought that when I was 14/15 years old and I was with my mother and my whole family, I would have signed everything I have achieved in blood. In the end, being one of the best judokas in the history of Spain in terms of results is something to be proud of. However, if I am truly proud of something, it is not the medals, it is having given 120% every day of my life to achieve the goals. If I went back, I would choose the same path and the same coaches, Salvador Gómez in Valencia and Antonio Bello in Vitoria. I still remember when I was a child and trained in Plaza Amarica with Antonio, who made me fall in love with this sport. Then, at the age of 18, I already decided to move to Valencia. I have missed many things by training and studying at the same time. In the end, I wanted to be a student and an elite athlete, and although I have missed many parties and events, I would not change one iota of the path I have taken so far. I would not change any day of my life, I am proud to have always given 120% and I cannot blame myself for anything.
