MADRID, 4 Oct. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The ONCE Social Group and the Navy signed an agreement this Wednesday to facilitate the training of athletes from the Spanish Federation of Sports for the Blind at the Navy’s sports facilities in Madrid.
Athletes who are blind or have severe visual impairment will be able to use these facilities located on Serrano Galvache Street, which will allow them to maintain their level of training and competition less than a year before the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games.
The president of the ONCE Social Group, Miguel Carballeda, and the Admiral chief of personnel of the Navy, Gonzalo Sanz, signed this agreement by which the use of the athletics track and the gym will be facilitated, in addition to giving up a surface for the facility of a 5-a-side football field.
For Carballeda, who presented a soccer ball with bells to Almirante Sanz, the agreement is vital for the preparation of Paris 2024. “The Navy has come to the rescue of our athletes, many of whom will defend the colors of Spain in Paris , and that they will be able to continue carrying out their preparation with complete peace of mind in magnificent facilities,” he said.
For his part, Gonzalo Sanz has highlighted that for the people of the Navy who see blind athletes training, “it will be an example of improvement, commitment and how in life there are always good things and we must take advantage of them.” “From the moral point of view and the values that the Navy defends, it is a privilege for us to have you with us,” he said.
The athletes who access these facilities will be those who belong to the national, technical and promising teams who have a license with the Spanish Federation of Sports for the Blind (FEDC), whose infrastructure has been affected by the construction of the Group’s new institutional headquarters. Social ONCE in the northern area of the capital.
In addition, a parking space will be provided for FEDC vehicles and athletes will have daily training material (starting blocks, throwing material, hurdles, drags, etc.) for use at the established times.
In this sense, the FEDC will have a coach or guide to supervise the activities of the users of the athletics track and gym; and will provide the artificial grass, the goals and the necessary fences that will delimit the 5-a-side soccer field, the installation of which will also be in charge.