IOAR URKIRI ARREITUNANDIA (2nd PART OF THE INTERVIEW)
We continue chatting with Ondarru Swim Team’s coach (early September 2023).
1- In the 2022-23 season, your second as a coach, in the championship of Bizkaia they got 21 medals, in the championship of Euskadi 7 medals and two swimmers qualified for the championship of Spain. In addition, in the benjamin category, in the classification of the swimming teams of Bizkaia, Ondarru Swim Taldea was third, behind Santurtzi and Getxo. What is the secret to getting these results?
Work with enthusiasm and motivation: with the effort you get good results, with those achievements you awaken the motivation of the swimmers and with motivation the work becomes easier. Everything is tied up!
2-These results will be difficult to repeat in season 2023-24. What are your goals for the new season and what should be improved?
Yes, you’re right… it won’t be easy to repeat what we got as a team, but we’ll try. This year’s goal is the same: to motivate children because only on that path we will achieve the desired results. In order to improve, there are always many things, so we will start with the work of the aspects that we have not been able to develop due to the obstacles that we have had so far.
3- All the members of the group are happy and eager to work. How do you do it?
As I have practiced this sport for many years I know that it is very hard, so depending on what the annual objective of each one is, I put one level of demand or another. In this way, they come to training because they want and as many times as they need to fulfill their goal.
4- In the third edition of Science and Technology, at the round table with Aduna Badiola and Igor Rodriguez, you said that more important than results and times was enjoying swimming. How do you get that?
Yes, without a doubt… but they are largely intertwined. As I said earlier, good results motivate, but what is that? A good achievement must depend on the person and has nothing to do with time, that is, developing the technique and improving the jump can also be optimal results. Therefore, achieving the goal that one sets can be a great result, and at the same time we have to get to enjoy during the process.
5- Your father worked hard in Ondarru Swim Team. What advice does he give you?
My father has been for my best coach, the main architect of all my achievements and the one who has given me the strength to carry on in the worst moments. Still today, he is the first person I call when I have any doubts as a coach and I inform him about all the results we get. He always tells me that he trusts me, so he only helps me when I ask for some advice, letting me do my job my way.
6- For the 2023-24 season, there are some things that will change from the previous interview: you will have two streets in the pool and you will buy some materials. What will these two areas affect in your training?
Last year I had to change several workouts at the last moment because it was impossible to play on a street with so many people, so the quality of the sessions this year will be better. Also, as you mentioned, we will work with the new material, so we will develop some aspects that until now we have not been able to develop.
7- How would you say they are the swimmers of the Ondarru Swim Team?
Highly skilled (famauk; ja, ja, ja) but modest, often indicate that they do not believe in themselves, feeling small next to large groups. ¡ Fortunately, this year they have had the opportunity to see that their thinking does not fit the reality!
8- Ondarru Swim Team turns 37. How do you see the future of the team?
It is not easy to move forward in a small town like Ondarru and with the facilities we have, but in Ondarru Swim Team has always shown a good level and still today, is getting great things, so I just hope that for as many years the team will grow.