Buenos Aires 2018 already culminated but is important to highlight our Pan Am Coaches who also played important roles during this event.
Susana Salinas, Chile coach, leads badminton in Antofagasta and was with Alonso Medel at the Youth Olympic Games, sharing her experience and guiding Alonso in this historic participation.
Let’s know more about Susana and her experience in Buenos Aires 2018:
How were the days in Buenos Aires?
“These days are a dream, a dream for athletes and coaches. That is why we have worked hard this period, to achieve qualification, with joys and tears, but this allows us to enjoy this moment to the maximum.”
Was the objective met?
“Completely, because our first goal was to qualify and then make a good tournament. The group that was Alonso in was composed of 2 of the medalists and a very well ranked Dutchman with 18 years old, Alonso is only 16. In team event, he had a good performance winning a couple of matches and almost touching the bronze, because team lost for a few points.”
For you, what has been the best of these Olympic Games?
“The best was the level of the athletes, incredible. They are the best in the world and see them compete with those desires to win, it makes you move to tears. Without a doubt they are the most important of these Games: the Athletes.”
After this experience, what’s next for you as a coach?
“These games have been a tremendously enriching experience. Appreciate new training formats and share with some of them impregnate you with renewed energy. As a personal challenge, I want to resume training with all my athletes, move forward and be able to give them the conviction that dreams come true. If you work with discipline, perseverance and believing in yourself, everything can be done. I want my younger athletes to believe the story, as Alonso Medel believed it: the first Chilean in the history of the national badminton that was present at the Youth Olympic Games.”
Susana has contributed a lot in Badminton development in Chile, training good players in Antofagasta, which have won medals in South American and Pan American Championships, South American Games, Alba Games and Pan American Games, many medals in national championships and now can add to that list of achievements, the presence of Medel in an Olympic Games.
Congratulations Susana and Fedebad Chile.
