In his desire not to stop his sporting progression, Daniel Duque Tamayo decided to exercise his physique for two and a half months in the Tandem Gym de Madrid (specialized in serving people with functional diversity) to be prepared for the practice with his new team, the Club Legabasket, where he joins to play escort. The team, which is located in Second division, began on Tuesday, November 17, the training sessions that, together with the Chair Basketball League de Ruedas, have started, a week late, due to covid-19, says the Legabasket bodyguard. He was in another school, in another “quarry” and will have to get used to playing with a mask.
And precisely, about the use of masks in basketball and hockey, we have asked some athletes like him, aged 20, 19, 21 and 24, respectively:
“For the practice of basketball it is optional”, highlights Sindy Paola Ramos Martínez-Camacho, listening to the Getafe BSR, which competes in Honor Division, the highest category to which you can aspire in this sport. He adds that “it is both in the pavilion and in the games and training sessions, when at the beginning it was not, although we have been training with a mask for six weeks, because we have learned that there have been several positives in teams from other communities such as in the Country. Basque, in the Correct, in the Canary Islands, in el ACE Gran Canaria and in Burgos in the Servigest Burgos.
No cases of coronavirus
“No Madrid team has had positives in their squad so far this season,” he adds. But both athletes admit that, as expected, the fact of choosing to compete with a mask reduces their lung capacity, causing them fatigue, a feeling that is worse in the case of players with a respiratory ailment. “If we who do not have respiratory problems get tired playing, a player with them gets fatigued, twice,” explains Sindy.
At this moment, Daniel intervenes to express that “playing with a mask is not healthy, they should remove the masks and do PCRs on a regular basis or that we all play with a mask”, at which point Sindy then affirms that “yes, because you You can find players from the same team who wear the mask and others who do not, because there is no clear law ”, something that the young Legabasket guard also defends, who strongly calls for the sanitary regulations prevailing in his sport to be unified.
“With a mask your glasses fog up and it seems like you’re playing in the middle of the storm”
Finally, the player of the HSRE Alcobendas, Hockey team made up of people in a motor chair, Mikel Villanueva Martínez, pronounces in these terms about how the use of the mask affects his game: “The only problem with playing with a mask is that your glasses fog up and it seems that you are playing in the middle of a storm”
Hockey took a long time to start as they could not travel to Alcobendas due to the total closure of Madrid that prevented them from moving freely through the Community and given this impossibility they were given no other alternative.
This sport is nourished by the charity of the municipalities that give them their sports spaces, such as José Caballero Sports Center, Alcobendas pavilion where they play and also train, which has caused the HSRE Alcobendas I have only been training for five weeks, a fact that certainly leaves no room for hope that this season will develop normally, with its corresponding championships. “I believe that until there is a vaccine, no championship will be played, because attempts to schedule international championships, so far, have been unsuccessful. even though the players would be willing to go to these tournaments, if they were held ”, explains Mikel Villanueva.
Capacity limitations
On the other hand, we must emphasize that the development of these two sports is not only affected by the annoying but necessary use of masks, but also the current sanitary scenario forces all types of spaces to impose a minimum in their capacity.
A measure before which athletes from all over the world, such as the Legabasket Daniel Duque Tamayo reacts: “It does not seem fair to me that in Madrid, in the pavilions, they only let 30 people enter, when in some communities, such as the Basque one, they allow 150 people to enter the pavilions”, something that when they play as Visiting makes them feel, clearly, at a disadvantage compared to the rival, a circumstance in which they assure that the protocol should also improve.
And if we refer to the protocol that governs basketball, we should also refer to that of hockey, in which we find a unique notable difference with respect to that of basketball, as Mikel points out: “The sanitary protocol established for hockey is less restrictive because the degree of dependence on their players is higher. The protocol allows, among other things, that the player access the sports facilities with a support person. something that basketball protocol does not allow. “
In addition, both protocols include an action plan in light of the possibility that the accumulation of positives by Covid-19 prevents the games postponed due to this circumstance. In that case, Sindy Paola Ramos Martínez-Camacho Y the escort of the Legabasket explain that the protocol states that “in the event that a match cannot be played, it would be postponed and played when the situation of both teams improves, but if not, and if the match has been postponed three times this would be given, by winning to the local team, which would receive 3 points ”.
In this sense, it should be noted that two days have already been postponed, a situation that has logically disrupted the schedule that was set The BSR League, which now, according to Duque, would be modified to avoid postponements, so that a team plays two consecutive days, in the same community, as a visiting team ”. And he adds: “with this new system proposed it is possible that the calendar can be followed normally, thus reducing travel.” A plan that is not believed to allow this season to be played with total regularity.
In the case of Getafe BSR, for example, this has meant that their foreign signings cannot be incorporated, because either the players have not wanted to come due to the situation or they have not been allowed.
In the case of hockey, the budget of the HSRE Alcobendas, ensures Mikel Villanueva Martinez in good ink since in addition to playing for the club he is its treasurer, the pandemic has caused it to increase by 50% due to the savings in travel. And it is because of Covid-19 the European from Finland, which was scheduled to take place this summer, if the pandemic allows it.
The situation in which the basketball budget is found is very different from that of hockey, because according to the player of the Legabasket Daniel Duque Tamayo Budgets vary from category to category: “Large teams are not affected, because they continue to maintain their sponsorships, but small teams due to covid-19 have seen their budgets further reduced”
But this is not because they have had to invest huge amounts of money in the acquisition of medical supplies, but as the player explains: “Because of the pandemic, the sponsors are contributing less or directly, they have stopped investing in the Second Division as has happened to Legabasket. Duque also wanted to explain to us that: “Chair basketball has a general sponsor, which is The ONCE Foundation, but with that help it is not enough and many teams have to look for their own sponsors and if private companies are already reluctant to support a minority sport, with the pandemic, it becomes more difficult to receive support from companies.
In summary, what athletes with functional diversity are asking for is what any athlete is asking for at the moment when government: that they do not forget about them, that they continue to support them financially and that they present a unified law.
