Athletes are sometimes accused of living in a bubble. This has not been the case this time with the floods in the Valencia area. Iborra, Levante’s captain, went to bring shovels and water despite having a foot injury. Coach Vicente Moreno prepared Osasuna’s match against Valladolid with his heart on edge and yesterday he traveled to Massanassa. While Paiporta CF has lost its stadium but has saved many lives by suspending training on Tuesday morning.
Vicent Iborra, captain of Levante
“My injury is the least of it. “I couldn’t stay without helping.”
On Tuesday, Iborra went to train at the Levante sports city in Buñol. “We did what we could in the gym because outside the water was up to our ankles.” The rain was already bothering. “On our way back we passed through Chiva and the highway where a few hours later there were so many problems,” he recalls to this newspaper.
The 36-year-old captain of Levante was at home on Thursday watching the reports of the disaster. “We thought that something had to be done, that we couldn’t stay with our arms crossed.” So the family set out. “We bought water in a supermarket, which was almost gone, and in a Leroy Merlin we found rakes. They were things that the family required,” he points out. He refers to his wife’s uncles and cousins, who live in the Paiporta area. “They are fine in health but materially they have been disappointed.”
We bought water and rakes and carried them. “I did what a normal citizen would do.”
So he walked there to bring help. Without caring about the plantar fasciitis in his left foot, for which he is out. “The injury is going better, slower than I would like, but I didn’t do anything that could harm me. It was the least important thing at the moment,” he reflects.
They took their three children. “We considered leaving them with someone. But we decided that it was good for them to know what is happening in the world. It’s a lesson: when we have to help, we have to pitch in,” he adds. On the way he saw firsthand the harshness of the consequences. “The CV-30 was collapsed. “We passed through a town where only a shack remained.” Screams could be heard because they were looking for survivors. “People were looking for their own; They didn’t pay attention to me,” he says.
And he could also notice the solidarity of the Valencians. “We passed dirty people from top to bottom.” That’s why he doesn’t believe he did anything extraordinary. “I don’t consider myself more or better than anyone else. I did what a normal citizen would do,” says the champion of the last Conference League with Olympiacos and who this season has returned to the club of his life.
Vicente Moreno, coach of Osasuna
“We are tough people. “We will get out of this”
The Osasuna coach, Vicente Moreno, a native of Massanassa, has had to follow the disaster with his heart in his mouth. Your loved ones are there. Those 500 km that separate his work from his home have been the worst. Because they prevented him from being able to lend a hand and be next to his people. The coach was excited when he sent a message to his countrymen. “No one is aware of what is happening there; I can assure you because I am in constant contact with my children. “It is chaos that we cannot imagine,” he said.
Moreno, formerly of Espanyol and Mallorca, among others, encouraged the Horta Sud region. “We are hard-working and tough people. All together, although it seems difficult now, we will get through this. It’s been very hard especially for them. But for those of us who are far away and have family, friends, neighbors and children there, it is also very hard not to be able to be with them,” he explained about his suffering. He couldn’t help but shed some tears in the press room.
“I have been in constant contact with my children. It’s hard not being able to be there with them.”
“He hasn’t been able to sleep these nights,” revealed his second, who sat on the bench yesterday due to Moreno’s sanction. After beating Valladolid, the Valencian coach got into his car and was finally able to go to Massanassa to hug his people.
Mari Carmen Sanchís, delegate of Paiporta CF
“We have lost our stadium”
Only two years after celebrating its centenary, Paiporta CF has seen how the flood has devastated El Palleter, a legendary football field. “I went on Thursday to see the field and I couldn’t believe it. Everything was destroyed. The stadium has been lost, there are no locker rooms, the walls and ceilings have fallen,” Mari Carmen Sanchís, club delegate, tells La Vanguardia with a lump in her throat.
And it could have been much worse if it weren’t for the fact that the football coordinator, Héctor Blat, canceled the youth football training sessions at 8:28 in the morning, long before the drama. “If not at the time of the flood, the field would have been full of children, the female, the amateur and their respective parents,” explains Blat. “We have saved many lives,” they conclude.
“Rival teams from last season write to me to ask how they help”
“This is an ordeal,” says Sanchís. She lives in Torrent, a neighboring town, and every day she has traveled to Paiporta or Picanya. “On Thursday I walked for hours. We toured the houses asking people what they need because there are those who do not have a telephone or are older and cannot go out to get food. On Friday we went with shovels, mops and buckets to clean houses. People cry when they see their house clean,” he acknowledges.
She even makes coffee for the people on the ground. “We can only give thanks because this is going to be a long time,” he predicts. It is impossible to know when the club will return to normal. “The players are all fine. It was difficult for us to locate one who lives in Alfafar, but in what spirit is he going to train?” he points out.
But once again the solidarity of the rivals appears. “Rival teams from last season in the Northern Group of the Comunitat League write to me to ask how they help. Now everything is recent and some things are needed. But within a month it will be clothes, mattresses, furniture…”, he lists.
David Ferrer, captain of Spain in the Davis Cup
“This is going to be for life”
The Spanish Davis Cup captain, David Ferrer, is from Alicante but lives in Valencia and is no stranger to the tragedy. “It is people close to us who are suffering,” he concedes. “It’s dramatic. There are families who have lost everything and many deaths. There is a lot of pain, it is not going to be easy to live with. “It really has been a large-scale catastrophe,” he analyzes. The worst thing, considers the former tennis player, is that it will be difficult to move forward. “It is something that is not going to remain in a single week and everything starts again; I think this is going to last a lifetime,” he says.
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