I began playing water polo when I was 11. On my second day of water polo my first coach told me "you have talent." Since that day, I knew that this sport was going to be my passion. Even though water polo in Peru is not known throughout its population, I am in love with it. I always wear cap number 11, since this was the age at which I started playing waterpolo and because it has always been my lucky number. I am highly involved in the National Peruvian team and have the honor to be captain of the 96 and 97 categories. Being a high performance athlete completely changed my life in a positive way considering that training 6 hours per day, from Monday to Saturday is not something easy to do... but it's worth it. I have learned that if you completely believe in something, you will be able to accomplish it because your mind is extremely powerful. I also learned to be super competitive and I always want to be the best. This makes me accomplish my goals and never surrender. I will always remember what Manel Estiarte (one of the best waterpolo players in the world) said: "I am convinced that no team has prepared more than us; maybe like us, but not more than us".
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Tournaments
2014. My twelfth tournament, "Becej". This time, we were sent to measure our waterpolo level in Becej, Serbia. It was the first time that a Peruvian team went to play to Europe; especially to a country that has a profesional waterpolo league like Serbia. Our main objective was to go and learn there by watching the profesional league, training hard and playing a tournament. This tournament was a practice tournament that would get us ready for the world cup in Istambul, Turkey in August of this year. The category of this trip was U18 and I was chosen capitan; I also wore cap number 11. I got to meet great players, olympic medalists and was able to play vs some great clubs. On the tournament we played 9 games and won all of them. We got the gold and prooved that Peru`s water polo is improving and that we are going on the right track. Our coach was Tony Luque.
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2014. My eleventh tournament was "RM exportacion". This was the first tournament held in Arequipa, Peru with the purpose of developing water polo in Peru. The category was Open (Adults, Absolute) but we went with the national U18 team (96); I was the captain of the team. I wore cap number 11 and got chosen as the MVP of the tournament. Four teams came to the tournament: Arequipa, Chile (adults), Chile (U18), and Peru U18. We ended up first; our coach was Tony Luque.
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2014. My tenth tournament with the national peruvian team was "La Copa Cuatro Naciones". This tournament was held in Lima, Peru meaning that we were hosts; the tournaments category was absolute (Adults) and I am 16 years old. I wore cap number 11 and scored 9 goals. Argentina, Chile, Ecuador and Peru participated in this tournament and we ended 2nd losing the final 11-7 vs Argentina. My Coach was Tony Luque.
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2013. My ninth tournament was the Pan-American U17 games. I was the captain of the team and it was the first time that Peru qualified to the world cup, a huge historical achievement for Peru. I also played with cap number 11 and scored 7 goals in the tournament. We beat Trinidad and Tobago 6-1 and ended up in 5th place and classifying to the world cup. The tournament was in Buenos Aires, Argentina and my coach was Tony Luque.
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2013. My eighth and most satisfactory tournament was The Southamerican sub 17 (96) in Buenos Aires, Argentina. This has been one of my greatest achievements since we ended third and won the bronze medal. Peru hadn't won a southamerican medal in 75 years so we made history. I was chosen captain and used cap number 11. I learned from this tournament what winning actually is and how it feels and I got a little bit closer to my goal, being the best. I was in the main team the whole tournament and scored the winning goal that made us get the bronze medal vs argentina (6-5). This was an amazing championship that made me realize that you can never surrender. My coach was Tony Luque.
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2013. My seventh tournament was The South American Games sub 20 (93) in Valparaiso, Chile. We ended up 6th and didn't have a good tournament. I was not in the main team this time due to a injury in my knee but I still got to play. I also used cap number 11 and learned that we have to prepare as a team, not as individuals if we want to achieve our goals and be champions. My coach was Tony Luque.
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2012. My sixth tournament has been one of my major achievements, The World Cup sub 18 (94) in Perth, Australia. Classifying to a world cup and making a team that's three years older than me has been a huge achievement. It was the first world cup in history that Peru was going to and I was there. It was amazing! I played vs Italy (1st place), Serbia (3rd place), Hungary (2nd place) and many other teams that have a professional waterpolo level. Even though we ended last, losing our final game vs Trinidad and Tobago 15-10 this tournament made me learn a lot and gave me experience for future games and tournaments. For this tournament we went to Sao Paulo, Brazil as a traning trip to get prepared. I was in the main team most of the time which was another huge achievement and used cap number 11. My coach was Tony Luque.
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2012. In my fifth tournament I was chosen captain of the team, it was the first tournament that I would be competing in my category (97). This tournament was named La Copa Austral sub 15 (97) in Viǹa del Mar, Chile and I used cap number 11. We ended up 2nd losing to Argentina 8-7 and I was expelled of the game in the last quarter. After being expelled for the first time in a game I learned that I had to control myself better physiologically and physically especially if I was the captain. I was in the main team the whole tournament and my coach was Tony Luque.
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2012. My fourth tournament was La Copa del Pacifico sub 16 (96) in Lima, Peru. This time we knew that we couldn't make the same mistake as the last tournament and we ended 1st. We won the final vs chile 22-5 and I scored 4 goals. I was the sub captain of the team, which meant a lot to me, my life as a waterpolo player was just starting. On this tournament I used cap 11 and was in the main team which was another accomplishment. My coach was Tony Luque.
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2012. My third tournament was The Panamerican sub 19 (93) games in Montreal, Canada. For this torunament we went to Caracas, Venezuela as a practice trip. We trained very hard. Sadly we ended last losing our final game with argentina 15-12. I played this tournament with cap number 10. Some games I was in the main team while other games I was in the bench. This was my first time playing teams like USA and Canada which have a high waterpolo level so I tried to learn as much as I could. I also scored the only goal the Peru did to USA in that tournament, which at that time was an accomplishment. My coach was Tony Luque.
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2011. My second international tournament was La Copa del Pacifico sub 16 (95). This tournament was set in Lima, Peru and we got in 2nd losing the final 7-8 with Colombia. For this tournament we went to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil as a practice trip so we could end up in a good position as we did, even though we wanted to end up 1. My team was so sure that we were going to end up 1st that we entered the game with a bad warm up and very confident of this. This is where I learned that all teams have the same goal as you: to win the game> I also learned that you can never be confident of something but instead play with everything you've got and that each game is like a final. In this tournament I was not in the starting team and I was benched most of the time and used number 11, my coach was Luis fernando Munoz.
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2011. The Southamerican sub 17 (94) was my first tournament officially representing Peru. When you play your first international tournament, representing your country, there's a tradition: that the older team member cuts your hair in a funny way and you have to stay like that during the whole tournament and go to the airport like that as well. This tournament was in Medellin, Colombia and we lost the bronze medal to Venezuela, ending up in 4th place. This position classified us to the Panamerican games in 2012. In this tournament I was not in the starting team and played few times during the tournament but learned a lot from the bench and used number 4, my coach was Carlos Ortega.
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25 National Games (2010-2013)
15 gold medals
9 silver medals
(teams: Regatas, Aquatica, Barracuda, Campo de Marte, Caimanes)
12 International Games (2011-2014)
3 gold medal
2 silver medals
2 bronce medals
(also: Qualified to 2 world cups: Perth, Australia U18 2012 and Istanbul, Turkey U18 2014)
Other:
Copa Regatas: gold medal (2012)
Copa Aquatica: Silver medal (2011)
La punta (sea): gold medal (2012)
Brazilerao: 6th place (2011)
15 gold medals
9 silver medals
(teams: Regatas, Aquatica, Barracuda, Campo de Marte, Caimanes)
12 International Games (2011-2014)
3 gold medal
2 silver medals
2 bronce medals
(also: Qualified to 2 world cups: Perth, Australia U18 2012 and Istanbul, Turkey U18 2014)
Other:
Copa Regatas: gold medal (2012)
Copa Aquatica: Silver medal (2011)
La punta (sea): gold medal (2012)
Brazilerao: 6th place (2011)
Places where I have been:
- Argentina (2)
- Australia (1)
- Brazil (2)
- Canada (1)
- Chile (2)
- Colombia (2)
- Cuba (1)
- Peru
- Serbia (1)
- Venezuela (1)