The birth of the most special water polo team of all

“Who knows why, maybe because it has a reputation for being very tough. And look at the people we have in the water today. They are tough,” says Gabi Villarubia. The training of the day will be done by three former players of the golden generation of CN Montjuïc, the team that in 1979 became the first Catalan club to reach a final of the European Water Polo Cup, losing against the Hungarians of the Orvosegyetem Chus Collado and Xavi Llordella jump into the water to explain the secrets of this sport to the players. Gabi Villarubia, known to everyone in the water polo world as Villapela, not at the moment. “Yesterday I went swimming in the sea and the other day in Terrassa I did enter the pool,” he says, admitting that he gets a little tired. Normal, he is missing both legs and has been operated on more than 40 times because of diabetes.

Vilapela does not plan to give up on continuing to love his sport and now the waterpolo ability it gives him joy every week. “Xavi Llordella, Jordi Alonso and I are not part of any club. We are part of the technical commission of the Catalan federation to promote this project. We come here to CN Barcelona because this club has opened its doors to us, the work they do with the “adapted sport is amazing. Think they allow all the players to come here and they can come into the facility with two family members, they don’t have to pay to use it.”

In an age where you always have to pay to enter a club, CN Barcelona does not do the same. “Many players cannot come alone, they need help. So if you allow two companions to be in the pool, you make it easier for them to come”, adds Ruben Reguart, who does not stand still, as he is a key piece in the area of sport adapted from the CNB. In the stands, two relatives of a player discover the club’s facilities, on the seafront. They’re torn about whether they’d rather watch the whole workout or swim in the outdoor pools. They are amazed, they didn’t know such a beautiful club existed, it was a part of the city they didn’t know not so long ago. “Even today we have cases of people with disabilities that their relatives almost hide at home, out of shame, ignorance or because they lack help. I recently went to Badia del Vallès to convince a relative so that her son can come, and now this boy is the king of the party, in the water. It’s important to join the families”, explains Gabi Villarubia as the referee of the Catalan federation arrives who will officiate a game today. One of the souls of the project, along with Villapela, is Pitu Guasch, UE Horta water polo technician and a well-known face in Catalan swimming pools. They all take time out of complicated schedules to bring this discipline together and grow.

A sport with an Italian accent

The waterpolo ability was born in Italy. And it was two Italian water polo enthusiasts who live in Barcelona, ​​Gian Luca Scarpo and Sergio Pratico, who proposed to several clubs to introduce it to Catalonia. The first training sessions took place at Atlético Barceloneta, and then the project arrived at CN Barcelona. This Saturday Luca Scarpo is also in the pool personally accompanying the swimmers who have less mobility. “In the water, the perception of mobility is different. Everyone enjoys it a lot. On Thursday the players swim with Chus Collado. So on Saturday when water polo day comes we don’t have to focus on the physical part of swimming and we can go straight to the game,” reasons Gabi. In the waterpolo ability the pool is smaller, quarters last one minute less and five players play, instead of six. The project, however, is still being defined. “At the moment it is clear to us that everyone jumps in the water. We do not say no to anyone. Now, logically, a more competitive group has formed and another that is less so, depending on the characteristics of each one. It is not the same young man with vision problems but without mobility problems like other cases”, adds Gabi, who is preparing for “the visit of the Italians on November 20”. “That day we will play the first match. It will be key to see how the project grows. The Italians are pulling the wagon a lot with one goal: that it be an exhibition sport at the Paralympic Games in 2024 and that it can already be official in 2028,” he explains . To do this, it will be necessary to create categories based on the characteristics of the players. Now, in fact, they share sports teams that in an Olympic event would compete separately between the Paralympic Games and the Special Olympics.

“The idea is to involve more clubs. We are talking to Sabadell and others. We want to create a Catalan league,” says Gabi while, in the water, the coaches organize rounds to perfect the passes, ensuring that everyone shoots at goal , which everyone plays porter for a while. Let everyone laugh. Some players, born abroad, didn’t even know what water polo was until recently. Others remember seeing Manel Estiarte when they were young and now train under the guidance of friends of the legendary national team captain. The waterpolo ability is making progress with this goal of creating, together with the international federation, a regulation and a classification system that allows establishing the foundations of this discipline, with a view to its expansion around the world. The ex-players participating in the training, in fact, are already moving contacts on their agenda, from Brazil to Australia, talking to those who were rivals in the pools in the 80s. “It gives us so much, to see how this project grows. Now we need join more clubs,” says Gabi. If last March the first match of this type between athletes from CN Barcelona and CN Terrassa was played at the Nova Escullera with Manel Estiarte in the stands, the match against the Italians will take place in November. “And if everything goes well, the project will continue to grow. It needs to be talked about, for the institutions to join in. For more clubs to do it. For them to understand that in the water you are happy and that playing sports is life , for these people,” says Gabi, who can already see in his eyes that he wants to get into the pool, again, and leave the prostheses in the stands. “This sport gets you,” he explains with a laugh. “And these players are discovering it,” he concludes.