MADRID, Jan. 21 (SportsFinding) –
The player of the Spanish team of wheelchair basketball Daniel Stix is clear that he already feels some nervousness about the proximity of the Tokyo Games next summer and also confessed that everyone has “adversities” in his life and that “the successful people are the ones who face it. “
“I think it is the biggest challenge for an athlete. As they get closer you wake up differently, even if there are still months ahead. There you live with other athletes and enjoy them is a dream for me,” said Stix in his participation in the Dialogues Servimedia Paralympics, where he shared a talk with Rudy Fernández, a Real Madrid and Spanish team player.
The CD Ilunion player acknowledged that the selection, historic silver in Rio 2016, aspires “to the fullest” in the Japanese capital. “But we know that we have a very hard summer and that we will have to go game by game. We will go as far as we can,” he said.
The Madrid also celebrated his stay in the Madrid team, which has given him “everything”. “The Ilunion is my home, it has seen me grow, evolve and thanks to it I am not only the player I am today but also the person,” he said.
“I can't have a complaint. I have excellent teammates and I don't have a hard time going to train, not only because I love the sport but because I have people around me that makes me a better player,” added Stix, who estimated the cost at 8,000 euros, ” very high, “from his wheelchair to play.
The international considered that “sport is a platform that makes you show yourself” and said that the 'top' players of their sport differ because “they have a different mindset.” “They want to show you every day that they are the best,” he admitted.
The player confessed not to remember “much” of the cancer he was born with and that caused him not to move his legs. “Those who have suffered these complicated moments have been my parents,” he said. “My disability is very visible, but we all have our adversities and the people who are successful are those who face them,” he said.
For the forward, although “very much” has evolved in society's sensitivity towards disability, “many barriers remain.” “People are no longer seen in sadness with sadness. We have to look back with great respect for the work that has been done to break those barriers, but with enthusiasm for the future because there are still many challenges. Over the years we are having more visibility and seeing the Paralympic sport as a sport, “he said.
“You have to keep betting on the sport, be it Olympic or Paralympic, you have to keep working so that they look the same way,” said Stix, who praised Rudy Fernandez at his side. “It's a pleasure to meet players who are committed like Rudy,” he said.