Juan’s Story
Hurdles are like problems; with the right skills, they can be solved.
My first school, Camilo Cienfuegos, was around 3km from my Grandparent's house and my uncle took the responsibility of walking my brother and me to the school that was around an hour away because my mum was busy with the administration of the town business. I didn't know that the fun of running, crossing fences at the family farm, waking up a 5 am Monday to Friday, and walking to school was preparing me for my life ahead.
I was introduced to athletics in the middle of my 4th grade by the athletics coach, Pablo Sanches. My interest was playing football but they didn't have space for more children.
A few kids signed up for it - we didn’t know what athletics was at the time - and Pablo came to collect us one afternoon. More than anything, we were more interested in getting out of school for two hours in the afternoon.
We walked 2 km to La Ondi the sports field that accommodates all sports activities. There, we began working on running, jumping, and throwing techniques. We played baseball, and no-contact football with a focus on the application of the different techniques that we learned earlier. I was so happy to get out of school but even more excited about the next athletics session which was so much fun! I was transferred to the pre-initiation school of sport Tania La Gerrillera en Florida. For the 5th grade, I was transferred to EIDE Cerro Pelado in Camagüey.
l won my first gold 🏅 medal at the national track and field Multi Event school games in Havana City, Cuba. I spent the whole week with my medal hanging around my neck and even scratched my name on the back because I didn't want to lose it.
This was it. I had found something that I coil put my passion into (learning, travelling, discovering, and meeting different people.) Athletics became my hobby, winning more medals at the National School Games.
Olympic Junior Games
I went to the national team juniors in 1985 ESPA Nacional Giraldo Cordova Cardin in Havana City Cuba and won my first international gold medal in the 4x400m relay at the Olympics Hop Junior Games in Neobrandeburg, Germany in 1986
In 1987 I joined the national senior Athletics team at Cerro Pelado, Havana City and the University at the ISCF Manuel Fajardo - the National Institute of Sport and Recreation in Havana City, going on to win several more medals at national an international track and field events (Central America and Caribbean Games, University Games, International track and field meetings). I went on to be one of the most decorated University track and field athletes in the Central America and Caribbean Games with 4 Gold and 2 silver medals.
Golden Spike Trophy
My greatest satisfaction was winning 400 hurdles and the Golden Spike Trophy at the Super Grand Prix of Ostrava in the Czech Republic in 1990 for the best performance of the competition.
Master’s Degree in Sports Training
In August of 1993, I finished my University with a Master's Degree in Physical Culture Therapeutic and Sports Training at the ISCF Manuel Fajardo.
Physical and Mental
My first coach Pablo Sanches taught me that athletics (that isn't just running) is the collection of physical abilities and mental strengths from all the sports that help you to become an athlete. I wasn't the fastest or the strongest but I mastered the technical tactical skills for every single task that I faced. I wasn't picked for baseball, football, volleyball, basketball, or boxing because the coaches thought that I was too small, too skinny, too slow, or not aggressive enough. I was like a ghost in any single sport I wanted to play - the coaches couldn't see me.
When I attended the initiation school of sport EIDE Cerro Pelado, my coach Orosman Perez taught me how every event in track and field is important in the development of abilities for any other sport. We learned athletics event skills and he organized our pentathlon team according to our strengths and our weakness and we became the best pentathlon team in the country in our category.
When we started competing against other sports teams in our categories I was no longer invisible by any means - not to my teammates and now the coaches from baseball, football, volleyball basketball, and boxing also wanted me in their teams.
Winning the gold medal at the national pentathlon school games was great but I was still not the fastest, the strongest, or the best in any single event (always second or third in every single event in the 9-10 and 11-12 categories).
But in the 13-14 category my coaches Clarita and Mario Sanches introduced me to the hurdles in which my overall athletic skills started to show (winning for the first time in a single event and suddenly being skinny, not the fastest or the strongest, wasn't a problem for me anymore.
I fell in love with the hurdles, and jumping over hurdles became the greatest lesson in my life. From being invisible, I went on to be one of the most recognized junior and senior athletes in the country and internationally.
Hurdles are like problems; with the right skills, they can be solved.
Founding Athletics 4 All is deeply satisfying for me and has also been the greatest challenge of my life, building the basis for the full potential of children to shine, where they can develop at their own pace, helping them to find the right path as they grow, improving their abilities, skills, mental strength, and self-esteem.