From changing nappies to taking down skates to save Girona

“It’s clear that coming to train you miss some things, like being able to bathe her or all the new things around us. In fact, I ask myself, ‘oysters, now I have to go and leave her, you know?’ It is a consensual decision, of course. I didn’t expect to be back on the slopes; last year, in quotes, I already made the effort. Now I was disconnected, with family and playing wasn’t in my plans. But the club called me, the girl is very good and I spoke to the woman. And onward, because I want to help Girona”, confesses Pelicano, registered within the limit allowed by the regulations, and who started again a little over a month ago.

He could have stayed at home, but he is a different player. “You always have the urge to compete, to score goals, celebrate victories and suffer defeats… I won’t lie, I was very good without hockey, although at the same time I also missed it a little. And here they treated me like at home, so I didn’t have to think about it too much.” This is his third spell at the club, after the journeys between 2015 and 2019 and last season’s save, where he was one of the architects with twenty-one goals. “I was here in Catalan Nationalthis is not forgotten, and we have been climbing as a united family until the OK League».

Fears and doubts

“I hadn’t touched the skates in a year,” he says, between laughs. He disguises it well enough, on the court, because in the first duel of the tie he scored the first goal of the de Ramon Benito. “I was somewhat afraid, eh; because it was necessary to find out if he was capable of truly contributing”, he says, in a show of sincerity. “It is clear that you have doubts, because you are out of competition, without touching the stage and the level is the highest there is. At the League there is a lot of quality and I thought ‘will I be able to achieve what is asked of me?’. I gave it a whirl and if I had come to the conclusion that it didn’t add up, I wouldn’t have come. But I think I have one virtue and that is the immense confidence in myself. I knew something would give, I felt it.”

Once the ice is broken, the adaptation has been fantastic. “Knowing the group and knowing what the coach wants from me helps to make it easier. And the dressing room welcomed me with open arms, they are very humble and they are hungry to take it forward”, he describes, with the satisfaction of having obtained a victory in the first match of a tie full of tension throughout the that is at stake. “We can improve, for quality we can do better. We worked during the week to correct the mistakes we had, and we are aware that a difficult second game awaits us. We want to close, no matter what, the tie at the Arenys court. It’s a young and energetic team, but we have to be solid and make use of our experience.” At this point in the film, Pelicano has seen them in all colors. “Pressure doesn’t train, we have to keep a cool head and be focused for fifty minutes. We all feel the pressure, because we know it’s three games that you either win or you’re out. It motivates me, the truth. And that there is chivarri and the pavilion is full, even more».

Definitely, when the course is over, it will be completely retired. “I don’t want to continue; if they made me put my hand in the fire, I wouldn’t burn. Something very big should happen”, he concludes. Anyone believes him.