Africa-Press – Cape verde. About three years ago, Júnior Patrick, 29, born in São Lourenço dos Órgãos, in the interior of Santiago, surrendered to rowing, a sport that is still being installed in Cape Verde.
His goal is to “paddle” to the first place in the major world competitions.
As he told in an interview with A NAÇÃO, his first experience was in 2019, when he was invited to participate in the African Beach Games, held on the island of Sal, having three days to learn, prepare and compete.
“I embraced the cause when athletes from Cape Verde were asked for this modality. Previously, we prepared ourselves physically, but we waited about three months for the boats to arrive on the island of Sal. However, we only had contact with the boats, three days before the competition”, recalls Patrick, today surrendered by the costal rowing.
passion at first time
In love, he says he has been in contact with Remo every day, since the first time he tried it.
“I am constantly training at sea and even in the gym, using the ergometer machine. Since I learned to row, I created a passion that I couldn’t let go of”, confessed the athlete, who before this modality practiced futsal, basketball and handball. Increasingly engaged, the young talent says he has taken everything “seriously” from the very beginning, for greater achievements.
Opportunity
“Since I started rowing, I took the sport very seriously. However, there are incentives that make us always want to do more and, in my case, it is a privilege to represent Cape Verde, an opportunity that not everyone has”, she advanced.
With strength, endurance and determination, this young talent believes he is building, step by step, his own path.
“I train every day, competing with myself, learning more and more, new techniques, always giving my best in a mixture of strength, endurance and speed, to always be better in each competition and I believe that training is never too much, with goals that we have”.
positive results
So, despite his first competition that counted only as an experience, Júnior Patrick says that the results have been positive.
“Three days after the competition in Sal, we were invited to qualify for a competition in Tunisia, practically without any preparation, other than physical, that is, without practices at sea. We didn’t even participate, because that Olympic rowing competition, we don’t practice here. Luckily we did a regatta involving 10 countries and I ended up taking 2nd place”, he recalls.
After that, this young talent even participated in a world rowing game in Portugal, a competition in which, despite not being in the top five positions, it gave him the best experience so far.
“It was good to have participated and represented Cape Verde, one of the three African countries that attended the event worldwide”, he said.
Trainer/Masseur
However, he recalls that “first place is every athlete’s dream”, stressing that “not everything depends on us as support is always necessary”
Outside the sea, Júnior Fernandes is a masseuse, a rowing Paralympic coach, at a time when he is in the process of graduating in Physical Education and Sports, and after that, follow up with a master’s degree in Physiotherapy or Nutrition.
This is because he believes that these areas are interconnected and that, together, they can guarantee him a better future, taking into account the uncertainties of making a living from sport in Cape Verde.
However, in good waters, it still aims to develop a Rowing Club in Cape Verde to fill the gap, since in the country there are only associations, namely from Santiago Sul, Santiago Norte and São Vicente.
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