Título... por definir.

I started like all the girls, in a field of cement, with the three o’clock afternoon sun above my
head and with a bottle of water next to me, in what would be my first basketball practice. I
started when I was six years old and I was a little girl, so small, that i couldn't throw the ball
on the adult court but did it on a smaller court. I started with the support of my parents in the
stands while I was running after a ball, falling, scraping my knees, getting up and running
again. Until one day, I received two invitations: one for be part of the Cauca Swimming Team
—because I always loved I had always loved swimming— and the other for be part of the
Cauca Basketball Team, and with twelve years old, I had taken I took the most important
decision on my adolescence: choose the basketball like my principal sport. I must confess
that my best friend was very important in that decision because she always had had always
been motivating me to play basketball with her. Today, I thank to her because it had been
one of the best decisions that I have taken I took on my life.

Why do I said that? because the basketball has taught me a lot of things, first of all, the
importance of teamwork, the satisfaction of the victories and also, the bitter taste of the
defeat. Secondly, the value of discipline because thanks to it, I learnt how to organize my
time so well for obtained good results in my study and inside the court. And thirdly, the value
of the effort, because I had learnt that it costs a lot to fulfill my dreams fulfill the dreams that I
have costs a lot, because it implies stay sleeping at home when your friends are partying. Or
rather, it implies getting up at 4:00 am on saturdays and sundays for go to practice at 7:000
am, while all your friends are sleeping. It even implies ordering a lemonade instead of a
beer, stopping eating some things to eat healthy or stop watching a marathon of your
favorite serie on Netflix because you know that you have a tournament and your free the free
time that you have, is to do homeworks.

Those are little sacrifices, I know, but not everything is as difficult as it seems, because the
rewards obtained pay all the effort. In my personal experience, when I was fourteen years
old, I participated in a national tournament, my team obtained the third place and i won a
trophy for being the player who caught the most rebounds per game, also, we enjoyed nine
delicious days in Guajira beach and at the airport, I knew to Carlos Vives and Mariana
Pajón. I’m very luckily. The next year, we had gone went to play to Armenia, we were hosted
in a beautiful coffee farm, we were champions of T&E tournament and I was recognized like
the most outstanding player. Months after later, we had gone went to play the national
tournament of this that year in Buga-Valle, and we were runners-up. In our free time, we
were walking around the streets of the city, we were knowing knew the basilica of Señor de
los Milagros de Buga, and we enjoyed a lot drinking lulada in the hotel pool. Besides, I got
the trophy back for being the player who caught the most rebounds per game and the
organizers of the tournament invited me for participate in an olympic cycle, sadly, that never
took place but in that moment, i was very excited with the idea.

The next year (2016) a club of Bogotá invited me to play with they them the national
tournament of this that year and we were champions. In that occasion, i knew a beautiful
town called Moniquirá in Boyacá, I made great friends and in the middle of it, i had a really
good time. In 2017, I was part of Bogotá Basketball Team and we had gone went to
Cartagena, we were walking through the walled city, the beach and we obtained the third
place in the national tournament. I really enjoyed that tournament. And in 2018, when I felt
that my dream of being part to Colombia Basketball Team was very near, my knee broke
and I have had a long period of time doing physical therapy during all 2019. Fortunately, the
University payed the cirugy. 😂

Right now, I’m here, in 2020, starting over after the cirugy, playing again and doing what I
love. I had worked hard to fulfill my dream: play with the Colombia Basketball Team, but
during many years, I had been waiting that they called me for the team, so all the effort that I
invested would make sense. However, basketball has taught me that the end result is not
the most valuable, because the most important thing is the process. I mean, the passion I
train with, the people I have met, the places I have visited and the stories that I have to tell.
In addition, basketball has taught me that exist unforeseen variables and things that we do
not control, so thanks to that, I learned to accept them and I gave up the sick idea of
controling everything. Despite difficulties, injuries and frustration, I’m grateful with basketball,
because thanks to it, I have become a stronger women —in physical and mental terms—
and a rude, determined and persevering person in the middle of a male-dominated society
that associate the women and the idea of the feminine, with weakness, tenderness or
delicacy. So I have a lot to thank for this sport, even from a feminist perspective.

Finally, you know what the most beautiful thing is? that as I look back I see that little girl still
exists, this the girl that one day started running after a ball in a field of cement, with the three
o'clock sun above her head and with a bottle of water ready for her first basketball practice
that would last two hours, but ended up becoming something I have been practicing for
fourteen years now old.