The catalog of sports modalities prepared by the General Directorate for 2022 is loaded. Sports dance, surfing and cricket will gain prominence and these three disciplines will have their own federation. There are reasons for this. The ‘breakdance’ will be Olympic in the Games of Paris 2024, surfing is lately on everyone’s lips and is gaining followers by forced marches. Finally, cricket has a vein at La Manga Club, where the European League has been played since 2019.
These will not be the only novelties in the list of sports that will take a step forward in the Region in 2022. There will also be novelties in the skating, artistic gymnastics and wrestling federations, which will have new specialties in their program: ‘skateboard’, ‘parkour ‘and’ jugger ‘, respectively.
With the Paris Games a new era in Olympism begins. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) approved the Parisian program at the end of 2020. It will be an appointment in which full gender equality will be achieved; that is, there will be 50% men’s events and another 50% women’s competitions. But the great novelty is the inclusion of new disciplines, one of them is ‘breakdance’ (which is now called ‘breaking’, a modality that will be included in the Sports Dance Federation), which will make its debut in the French capital, along with skateboarding, sport climbing and surfing. One of the objectives of the IOC is to attract younger audiences through these disciplines and new communication tools.
-
‘Skateboard’
The Regional Skating Federation will incorporate this specialty next year, which consists of sliding on a skateboard. -
‘Parkour’
Artistic Gymnastics will have this physical discipline, based on the motor capacity of the individual. -
‘Jugger’
La Lucha will add to the Region this team activity, which combines elements of rugby and fencing.
Three years after the Paris Olympic Games, the Murcia-based Malaga-born Álvaro Delgado, founder of the ‘Murciabreaking’ dance company and the regional League, knows first-hand what the sporting and artistic essence of this sport is. He is the current best ‘B-boy’, the name by which the person who dances in this modality is known.
«The level in Murcia is good and it is growing. It is working with a new generation. I give classes from Monday to Friday, and even on weekends, even in the parks of Murcia, to boys and girls, and many of them are already very advanced ”, says Delgado, who also organizes events.
Álvaro is excited that breaking is Olympic, he acknowledges that there are disputes over this step taken by the IOC and says that the fact that the specialty he masters has been declared Olympic “creates confusion, since there are people who say it is a art and it will never be a sport, for others it is half and half and then there are those who see it only as a sport. I am one of those who sees it as an art, although it has sports components. It cannot be denied, since it is required to be in a physical shape that forces you to train hard », says this man from Malaga, for whom the positive is that« they no longer see us as street dancers. People’s face changes when they find out that what we practice is an Olympic sport.
It is clearer to Jesica Martínez, from the Puente Bacinos ‘Staying Alive’ dance school and the person who will lead the new Regional Federation of Sports Dance, for whom ‘breaking’ is clearly related to sport, «due to the degree of physical execution that it requires, without forgetting, of course, the artistic part ».
They no longer see us as street dancers. People’s face changes when they find out that what we practice is an Olympic sport “, says B-boy Álvaro Delgado
An established sport
The ‘breaking’ is very established in the Region, where there are 14 clubs and 150 federated athletes, “and with expectations of increasing the number in 2022, with the beginning of the new course”, says Jesica, who highlights that “we have two Murcian in the Spanish Federation team [Álvaro y Manu]».
Surfing will also be Olympic in Paris. In the Region it will gain weight next year in the catalog of new sports modalities, thanks to the fact that “the level has improved a lot in recent years and that new generations are stomping,” says Ignacio Cascales, one of the best surfers in the Region, who adds that to have a good level “you need a lot of dedication and time when there are waves, something that is scarce on our coast, unfortunately.”
The Mazarrón Bahía Surf school lends a hand. This association is dedicated to teaching surfing and paddle surfing on Bahía beach. That was where Ignacio began, who says that his passion for surfing «was born through my family, which is closely linked to the sea. They were the ones who bought me my first board, about 20 years ago, and my friend Tomás, who always counted on me to take me surfing. They were probably the ones who got me started.
For Cascales, surfing is more than just a sport: «There are too many variables within surfing that make it surpass that denomination. For the true surfer, his life is focused on this sport, the amateur makes surfing one more hobby. That is why I think that for real surfers, the word sport can be a bit too short. In my opinion it involves you too much to be just a sport. There are few times that we leave everything to go catch that storm that lurks ».
And is that to catch that wave you have to travel, and sometimes very far. The list of destinations to which Ignacio has traveled to enjoy on a wave, or at least to try it, is surprising: Lofoten [en el Ártico], Norway, South Africa, Namibia, Scotland, Ireland, England, France, Switzerland [en una piscina de olas), Portugal, Madeira, Canarias, Marruecos, Maldivas y, por su puesto, «España, de arriba abajo y de abajo arriba», dice Ignacio Cascales, que tiene sus paradas favoritas en y Irlanda y Sudáfrica.
Sin compartir la ola
La costa de la Región no es la mejor para practicar surf, pero tiene sus días, según este surfista mazarronero. «Todos los sitios de costa en la Región tienen sus días buenos de surf, desde La Manga a Águilas, pero si tuviera que decir uno, no diría realmente en el que estoy pensando, la verdad. Me gusta ser sincero, soy de los que si puede coger olas solo, mejor que mejor».
Para Cascales, que aumente el número de practicantes de surf se debe a que «es un deporte con una imagen algo distinta, que se vende muy bien. Hoy en día está en boca de todos. Supongo que la pandemia, las redes sociales y lo medios de comunicación han influido en que haya más gente en el agua».
El críquet, por último, también tendrá federación propia en la Región a partir de 2022. La explicación es sencilla. Desde 2019, La Manga Club apuesta fuerte por esta modalidad deportiva, «que es la segunda con más seguidores en el mundo, por detrás del fútbol», señala un portavoz del resort, que en 2019 cerró un acuerdo con la Liga Europea para ser la sede de este evento durante tres años.
El críquet es un deporte similar al béisbol, donde juegan 11 contra 11 y se lanza una pelota a la que el contrario debe pegarle con una pala, buscando correr al otro extremo y completando así una carrera. Este deporte tiene su origen en Inglaterra. En el siglo XVIII pasó a ser el deporte más popular. Posteriormente, con la época de expansión colonial, Inglaterra exportó su práctica a los países que dominó. Actualmente el críquet se juega en Inglaterra, Gales, India, Paquistán, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Australia, Nueva Zelanda, Sudáfrica, Zimbabwe y algunos otros países del Caribe con influencia británica.
Premio del Consejo Superior de Deportes a la Comunidad «más activa»
La Dirección General de Deportes puso en marcha en enero de 2016 el catálogo de modalidades deportivas de la Región de Murcia. Desde entonces, y adaptándose a la tiempos, es actualizado. En 2022 incorporará tres nuevos deportes [baile deportivos, surf y críquet] and three new modalities [‘skateboard’, ‘parkour’ y ‘jugger’]. These movements, together with the sports program that has been enjoyed this year in the Region, led the Higher Sports Council a weeks ago to reward Murcia for being the “most active” Community, an award that was collected by Fran Sánchez, General Director of Sports.
.