He Miguelito Trophy He turns 35, a propitious age for those boys and girls who back in 1989 opened fire in the first edition of the competition to return to it as adults, even as second-generation parents. One of them is from A Coruña Diego Lemos. In his case, he became older at the same time as the traditional test in the city. She was only five years old when she participated in the premiere of Miguelito, for those in which Polideportivas of Riazor. And life no longer separated him from him or from judo in the next 35 years. As an athlete he took part in the exhibition for seven more courses, eight in total. Later he began to collaborate from within as a volunteer and now, in addition to being in the organizing committee, finalizing the details so that this morning the coordinated parade of the three thousand judokas that will pass through the Coliseumhe will also be the proud father of a girl who follows in his footsteps on the tatami.
I have few memories of the first MiguelitoI was only five years old”, he delves into his memory Diego Lemos“but I do remember that I was very nervous because it was the first time I had gone to something like this and I had started judo that same year with Eduardo Galan and Miguel Ramos —the parents of the Trophy—”. When memories fail, she has to pull out the family album. “The photos of the day are at my parents’ house, with my judo suit and my white belt together with my classmates and doing the different levels,” she says. The snapshots were repeated until she was thirteen. So she had to stop participating, but not going to Miguelito. “For eight or ten years I became a collaborator, as a tatami volunteer, a judge when I got my black belt, and I became a teacher,” he says. He paraded through almost all the positions until he took one more step to enter the organization. “I grew up with Miguelito,” he sums up, “I grew up with him, I’m 41 years old and I’ve been linked to him for 35 years.”
Lemos, therefore, is one of the first-hand witnesses of how the Miguelito Trophy it became a national and international benchmark for school sports. “As a child I remember that we were always very excited, the Miguelito was something you waited for all year. You prepared it with your classmates, with the couple you were going to participate with… and you put a lot of effort into it to get good grades and to be congratulated by your teacher the next day”, he comments and thus explains that the test has stood the test of time: “It started as a small adapted competition that did not exist at the time for the earliest ages of judo. And it was evolving, changing and improving. The proof is that it has been resisting everything for 35 years, including the pandemic. And there we continue.”
His perspective has also been changing and it is not the same how he saw it when he was the athlete as how he sees it from the other side. “When you start volunteering and collaborating, you realize all the work there is: the previous one, the assembly, the disassembly, the work of the day itself so that everything works well, how is it done so that the children feel supported and be happy…”, he lists and thanks the volunteers, without whom he believes the project could not be carried out. Miguelito: “Those who are in the stands, on the tatamis, at the gift tables, those who are at the entrance controlling access, the judges who give the scores… there are many people involved and without them it would not be possible.”
New generations
It’s a lot of work, but he says he’s happy to do it. “It’s never hard when you do it with enthusiasm and enthusiasm and you know you’re doing it for the boys and girls who go there,” he says. “I am also a teacher and I prepare students. My eldest daughter also goes. And I see her illusion for the whole week, that she really wants to go to Miguelito. In the end, it doesn’t cost anything because she rewards you with that affection and that illusion, ”she admits. And, after all, she is doing a job that transcends generations. “Miguel and Eduardo are already seeing the children of those who started. It is not my case yet, but everything will come. He Miguelito Trophy has developed a very special relationship with the city and its region. He has been around for so many years that people feel him as one more part of the sport in the city ”, he concludes.
Four shifts, twenty tatamis and three thousand judokas
The Coliseum will be the stage through which more than three thousand judokas will pass, both from the city and from the rest of Galicia, spread over twenty tatami mats, to participate in the 35th edition of the Miguelito Trophy. The organization has arranged four shifts, both for athletes on the track and for spectators in the stands, to carry out this different competition in which the students only have to perform the exercises they have prepared, according to the different levels, in front of some judges. They all have a prize. There are neither winners nor losers. Pure essence of school sports. The first shift —of 800 participants each, 40 per tatami— will start at 9.15 am. The next one at 10:15 a.m., the third at 11:15 a.m. and the last one at 12:15 p.m., so the competition will have ended by noon. The Miguelito Trophy, a tradition in the annual sports calendar of A Coruña, is a national and international benchmark and in recent years delegations from other countries have visited the city to try to export this event that serves the youngest judokas to start in competition and demonstrate their knowledge without having to engage in combat. Although there are no winners, each year the organization rewards the best centers, in terms of collective technical quality, from the previous edition. On this occasion, the Judo Club Oleiros, the Municipal Sports School of Cerceda, Termaria and the educational centers San Pedro de Visma, Ramón Otero Pedrayo and José Cornide will receive the awards.
2023-04-30 02:06:37
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