From Monday 20th to Friday 24th, I have been playing the South American water polo U20 tournament held in Lima, Peru. I have mixed feelings about this tournament because we played well but at the same time didn’t fulfill our teams goal: getting a medal.
We were placed i a bracket known as the “Death group”, were we would face Brazil, Colombia and Uruguay. It was called the Death group because Brazil, Colombia and Peru where gold, silver and bronze medalist in the latest youth South American tournament. As I mentioned before we had a great tournament even though we didn’t gain a medal.
We lost vs. Brazil 17-13, a historical score for Peru and the best score of the tournament with brazil that is a world water polo power. We lost vs Colombia 12-8, started this game playing horrible (the second quarter ended 8-1) and then we started to get into the game but it was to late. Then we had our first win, 18-8 vs Uruguay that made us play vs the 4th place on bracket B (Chile). We beat Chile 24-4 and advanced to the final game, with Uruguay again, for the classification to the U19 Pan American Games at Toronto in 2016; which we won 14-9.
This tournament has made me grow as an athlete. Our team was the best team that Peru has ever had, everyone could be in the starting team and everyone could be a sub, we were all even. But, we had only been practicing together for 2 weeks before the tournament due to some internal federation problems. I realized that even though our team was strong, water polo is a team sport and we need to be really united to succeed and to do this, we need to practice together for more time.
I feel that I have gained respect around south America. Referees, coaches and players came to say hi to me, they shook my hand, and some even asked me for feedback. This proved me that I have been growing as a player and that people look up for me. However, I am no super star and I did the same, after each game, I went to talk to the opposite team coaches and asked them for feedback.
Now, I have the U20 World Cup in September and have new objectives and goals to achieve.