Courtesy of: The Morning News
ORANJESTAD – The Tenth South American Games, also called Odesur, will be held in the city of Santiago de Chile between 7 and 18 March 2014. Aside from Santiago, the Games will also be held in the cities of Valparaíso, Viña del Mar, Curauma, Quillota and Concon, all situated in the Region of Valparaíso. The games are sports competition between South American countries that are part of ODESUR (Organizacion Deportiva Suramericana).
Aruba athletes are busy preparing themselves for this championship.
One of them is Mitchell Daniel, who together with his partner, de Cuba, will represent Aruba in Beach Volleyball. According to Mitchell, “since he was a boy his whole family used to play indoor volleyball. So naturally I also played indoor volleyball.” Later on he started competing in school volleyball tournaments and afterwards he began playing for the Aruba selection. For 2 years he has been competing in beach volleyball.
Mitchell says that the preparations are going well; the training sessions are very intense. Every morning he does strength training in a gym and in the afternoon he practices beach volleyball. “It is worth the sacrifice, especially if you see a progress in your game techniques and tactics.” For Mitchell, to participate in the X South American Games in Chile is “something big, as I have been playing beach volleyball for only 2 years.” His talent is such that he and his partner are classified for the Central America and Caribbean games. In Chile they will compete against the 13 best countries of South America. “It is a unique experience to play against the best beach volleyball teams, like Brazil and Argentina. It’s an honor. In the past you can only see these players on TV and now you have the chance to meet them on the court.”
Mitchell recalls some beautiful memories when he and his partner won against one of the strongest teams in the Caribbean, the Dominican Republic. Although the Chile players are of a higher performance level, he is confident that they can give a good performance. His goal is to end in the best 6 teams.
Mitchell’s dream is to eventually participate in the Olympic Games. The Rio games will take place in only 2 years, but he is confident that he will make it for the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games. Then, hopefully, he will be more experienced and will qualify for more games to be taken into consideration.
Mitchell’s advice for all athletes: “If you want to be a good sportsmen, you must train in earnest, set your goals, and let no one impede you from realizing your dreams.”
Another Aruban athlete attending the games on behalf of his homeland is Quincy Breell. He forms part of the track and field delegation and will compete in the long jump discipline.
Quincy first became involved in sport competition playing basketball. He had a friend who practiced track and field. One day his friend asked him if he likes to travel, and that is how Quincy started applying himself and training in track and field. His excels in long jumps and 100 meter sprint; in Chile he will only compete in the long jump discipline
Quincy is training very hard, 3 to 4 hours a day, 5 to 6 days a week. He is very disciplined and dedicated and has already seen some progress in his jumps. His personal long jump record is 7.46 meters, but he aims to surpass it in Chile. He will put heart, sweat and blood to achieve this. He will not let himself be intimidated by other athletes, no matter how good they are. He just wants to succeed as one of the best. As any other athlete, Quincy’s dream is to make it to the Olympic Games, if possible the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro
Quincy’s advice is, “If you want to get far in sports, any sport, you must train very hard and be highly disciplined.”
The Morning News wishes these two superb athletes all the best! Keep Up the Good work!
