The Physical Education teacher took stock of what was the performance of the boys and girls of Rafael Obligado and Rojas who competed in the National Badminton Championship that took place at CENARD, where the majority managed to be on the podiums. “The fact of participating was already a source of pride,” she declared.
At the beginning of December, the National Center for High Performance Sports (CENARD), the emblematic place of sport in our country, was the setting for a new edition of the Argentine Badminton championship for youth categories.
The youth Badminton national championship received the best players in the country, who qualified for the competition in different regional qualifiers that took place during the year.
After the excellent participation they have had in recent editions of the Buenos Aires Games and the Metropolitan Tournament, the boys from the Escuelita, which operates both in the neighboring town and in Rojas, also earned the right to participate in the national tournament, in this case going through regional phases.
It was thus that ten members of the Escuelita, nine obligadenses and one from Rojas, advanced to the national, where they left under the orders of Professor Cristina Álvarez, one of the forerunners of the development of the discipline in the municipality.
The participation of the Escuelita de Badminton in the national tournament was excellent, where it ratified the great performance achieved in the previous competitions, achieving several podiums in the different variants and categories.
In dialogue with Panorama Deportivo, the teacher Cristina Álvarez took stock of the participation of the municipality’s delegation, remarking in principle that “we lived an unforgettable and wonderful experience, because the boys won the place to participate in the 2022 Badminton National in the facilities of CENARD in the Federal Capital and we are happy beyond the results that are motivating for children and families, but the fact of participating alone was already a source of personal pride, like all the achievements we have achieved throughout this weather”-
Regarding how the arrival at the national level was, step by step, the teacher explained that “back in August and September we participated in two regional qualifying rounds in the province of Buenos Aires, the first was held in Avellaneda and the second in Florencio Varela, where the boys qualified for the National, which was a total of ten, a more than important number, we were even one of the largest delegations.
Regarding what was the development of the Argentine championship at the National High Performance Center, he said that “we left Rojas at 5 and arrived at 8:30, there was a welcome to all the delegations and at 9 o’clock the competition began which had as participants representatives of Federations from all over the country such as Corrientes, Entre Ríos, Neuquén, Córdoba, Federal Capital, San Luis and Buenos Aires, among others.
There were matches continuously on four available pitches and the boys were playing non-stop until 10 pm”.
“In some categories and modalities the tournament was done by direct elimination, and in others it began with the group stage all against two, qualifying the first and second for the finals. Generally, single elimination was played in singles because there were many competitors, which made it much more difficult since you lost a match and didn’t play anymore, while in men’s, women’s, mixed and minor doubles it was done in groups. It was played in the Under-13, Under-15, Under-17 and Under-19 categories, both for men and women”, commented the teacher.
Cristina Álvarez stated that “the boys who participated for Rafael Obligado were Juan Pablo Levatti, Marcos Espart, Román Griguelo, Martina Espart, Javier Calzetta, Joaquín Balduzzi, Santiago García, Thiago Lugones, Matías Griguelo, while Morena Magistratti did Rojas” .
“The boys from Rafael Obligado are very enthusiastic -the teacher highlighted-, since the beginning of the year we started with the systematized practice, which although it is once a week, they are very committed, we even plan to add a few hours next year to continue getting better. Meanwhile I know that in the locality the boys meet to play and have set up little courts in their houses, others play in the street, I have gone out and seen them feathering at night on the health track”.
“Most of them managed to get on the podium and those who didn’t made it had very good performances and finished fourth or fifth, that is, everyone’s performances were fantastic, even more so when we’re talking about a competition at the national level that was very tough and with the best players in the country”, stressed the teacher from Rafael Obligado.
Regarding the results obtained by the delegation of our municipality in the Under-13 Male Individual, Román Griguelo was second and Marcos Espart third.
In Under-15 Female Individual Martina Espart was third, in Under-15 Mixed Double Martina Espart and Javier Calzetta were third, in Under-17 Female Double Morena Magistratti and Joaquín Balduzzi finished third.
Thiago Lugones and Matías Griguelo finished third in the Under-19 Men’s Doubles division, while in the Under-19 Mixed Doubles division, Daylin Torres, from Neuquén, and Matías Griguelo, placed third.
Cristina Álvarez also recounted that “there were observers, there was also the coach of the national team, Martín Trejo, who at one point we were sitting watching the games and he very kindly approached me to introduce himself because, since I am new to the circuit, he did not know me, and His words were very kind, I loved his treatment of us and he encouraged us to continue on this path, it was a compliment and I have no words to describe that moment we are living”.
He also detailed about the experience he lived with the students in the complex of the Federal Capital that “we could not stay at CENARD because there was no place for all the delegations, so we had to go to a hotel, where we stayed very little because We finished competing very late on Saturday, then we went out to dinner on Avenida Cabildo, walked for a while and slept because the next day the competition started again”.
The teacher highlighted that “the boys had a great time and they are getting used to this travel thing, in addition they have even made friends in the metropolitan ones that we play, also in my case with other teachers, and in the national one we were all together cheering, all very beautiful, and all crowned with the achievements of the boys, what we lived through was phenomenal, it was an excellent tournament for everyone”.
Cristina Álvarez stated that “the parents are all very happy with the work we have been doing at the little school, I only have words of gratitude for them because they are always available for what we can think of and we are moving forward, besides, I could not do it alone to do and a nice group has been formed, that accompaniment is essential ”.
Regarding the activities that they have planned to carry out with the Escuelita de Badminton in the first months of 2023, he pointed out that “a meeting is pending to be held in General Viamonte, but we are complicated by the dates because we are close to the end of the year with the parties and everything that entails, that is why we cannot guarantee the presence. Then there is activity in the summer, in fact I was talking to people from Córdoba that every year they have a tournament that lasts three days and coincides with a festival that is in Las Acequias, it is an international competition with people from Chile, Paraguay, it is mid-January, we’ll see if he can go because he would find us in the middle of everyone’s vacation. In the meantime, the idea is to rest and in mid-February resume practice and organize the competition schedule for next year”
“If I take stock from March when we started until today, the boys have had impressive sporting growth, and it goes beyond the results, because I see it in what they enjoy in the game, in addition to the experiences we live that were unique as the participation in Mar del Plata, now in CENARD, perhaps the youngest do not take dimension of where they have been, but with time they will realize that they were in the cradle of Argentine sport”, he highlighted.
At the end of the conversation with the program that is broadcast at noon on Radio Rojas, the teacher thanked everyone who collaborated so that the little school could be present in the different competitions that were played throughout the year, including the National one at CENARD .
“We have always had a hand in everything we proposed, for this reason we are grateful to the families and obviously to the Sports Department and the municipality of Rojas that collaborated with the transfer and lodging, we also had the collaboration of María Elena Machado and her children, to the community of Rafael Obligado and Rojas, and I want to make a special mention to my companions on this trip and on others such as Mariana Biccoca and Vanina Morales”, he completed.
