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Juande Oyón, the Catalan referee who helps fight bullying

BarcelonaJuande Oyón has two jobs. During the week he works as a municipal police officer at the Guardia Urbana de Badalona. When the weekend comes, he works as a referee in the Endesa League. Accustomed to acting as a mediator, the ACB has chosen him to work with boys and girls on aspects related to ‘bullying’. With him they will learn about conflict mediation, moral and ethical justice and balance from an observer position. “A mediator, in my case the police, listens to all parties and proposes a peaceful solution to the conflict,” he says.

“I started refereeing basketball when I was 18 or 19. There came a time in my life when I needed a change and I decided to run for the local police because I had always been very interested in this world . I was lucky enough to enter it and I’m very happy,” explains Oyón.

Many of the skills you need to perform one task are useful for the other. “In both professions you have to be empathetic, impartial and you don’t have to prejudge either people or players. You have to know how to make very quick decisions. The big difference is that refereeing is still basketball. Clubs and teams they play it a lot, but it’s still a sport. On the other hand, in the day-to-day life of the police, people play something else. It’s a little bit more seriousin quotation marks,” says the Catalan referee.

“It’s not difficult for me to change the chip. When I’m out on the street, I do what I have to do at every moment. When the weekend comes and I start packing, I’m no longer thinking about what I’ve done during the week but in the game. I feel lucky because I love both things I do,” argues Oyón.

“The day as a police officer begins with a briefing in which the commanders assign us to each patrol the work we have to do. We take the cars and move wherever we are called. There are people from different countries and cultures, and this sometimes creates conflicts. We try to act as mediators and provide coverage for anything that happens on the street,” he continues.

A multidisciplinary team

Oyón is not alone in fighting bullying. The referee shares the spotlight in the “No joke” campaign with the actress Itziar Castro, the sensei Javier Sáenz, Unicaja player Alberto Díaz and the DUX Gaming eSports team to fight bullying. “They bullied me. They wish me dead on the networks every day. It’s not that I had a lot of inner strength, but I was clear about where I wanted to go: I wanted to be an actress, I wanted to be powerful, I wanted to be myself, I wanted to be Itziar, the one who is different, diverse, who dreams of the impossible, who is empathetic, the that he broke his face with everyone. My colleagues called me a piglet. A word as simple as little pig and leaving a few acorns on your desk can ruin your life, lead you to the precipice. All those who insulted me, assaulted me, put acorns on me, are now my fans, and this is the best revenge. I answer them haters with humor,” says Castro.

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