It was a crush. Sergio Rodríguez (Madrid, July 11, 1987) came from training and doing zapping ran into a football game for the blind. It was the semifinals between Spain and France of the London 2012 Games. There he knew that he had found what he was looking for and set out on an adventure determined. His questions were answered and an opportunity appeared. “That summer I played again, after having left football 11 out of disappointment. We were in the preseason and when I turned on the TV I was watching the game. Álvaro’s stops caught my attention. I had the doubt if the goalkeeper also had a disability and I wrote an email to the Higher Sports Council, the Paralympic Committee, the ONCE … They got in touch with me and I ended up joining the Madrid team, “he points out to As.
Sergio was a goalkeeper and had passed through several Madrid teams, such as Betis San Isidro, Pozuelo or Rayo Vallecano, where he played with the children. From Vallecas he has made the great leap to Tokyo —his second Games—, where he defends the goal of the Spanish Soccer-5 team for the blind, alternating under sticks with Pedro Gutiérrez. “The usual thing is to have a starting goalkeeper, but Spain is broken. We play based on the characteristics of the rival. Pedro is shorter and more explosive, while I dominate the long distance. We’re like brothers. When they mark him it is as if they did it to me “, explains just the same day that the Paralympic Red ends its journey in sixth position, because of the goalaverage.
The goalkeeper is always the most unique figure of a team and that in football for the blind takes on another dimension. They are the only ones who see during the duels and their voice is the one that guides the rest of their teammates, who follow a sound ball. The feeling from the outside is that they can see, thanks to their way of orienting themselves, shooting, cutting … There are filigree with the ball, but they also fight. Except for the tinkling of the ball and the masks, it would be hard to find the difference with conventional football. Because if football is ordinary, football for the blind is extraordinary. All this seduced him and he landed in Selection in 2013. “Our role is the same, we must stop, but we give more importance to the guide. It is essential to place your teammates well so that they throw you less. You have to give a lot of information in a few words and the tension that the moment requires. Off the field you help them in everything. Now there are ten of us in the apartment and it’s like ‘Big Brother’, we have the early riser, the grumpy … It’s a great family, “he admits.
As a child he collected newspaper clippings from Casillas, Buffon or Peter Schmeichel. He dreamed of being like them and stopping the ball at the last moment, to the ecstasy of the stands. Be the hero. He is a friend of one of those heroes, Alberto García, the captain of Rayo, who has just hung up his gloves. The franjirrojo goalkeeper had the opportunity to meet our National Team before leaving for Tokyo and thus remembers that experience: “Sergio and I met at a Master’s degree. I was going as a speaker to explain how to manage individuals from the captaincy and the common good. When The class ended, I opened the door for them in case they wanted to delve into something, tell them about an experience or help them with something. Sergio invited me to go see the National Team, which was preparing the Games. I met them and gave them a talk. Each one told me about their experience. I realized that Sergio’s passion is goalkeeping and he wears out a lot in try to get everyone to row in the same direction and have a team feeling. People like him are indispensable. “The compliments are two-way.” Alberto and I have a special complicity. Being here He sent me a message because he had seen some images of us celebrating a goal and he told me that in those details you could see the pineapple that we are“Sergio adds.
Soccer is his life. He left the music production company where he had been working for twelve years to focus on the Selection. On the court, he won the European championship in Rome 2019 and outside, he won the title of academic level 2 coach and has started with the federative. In addition to the basic title of goalkeeping coach. Precisely in this work he has had several experiences: he went to the Atlético de Madrid Academy, last season he was at Pozuelo … However, his training is not only focused on that area. He also completed a Master’s degree in football management, methodology and analysis at LaLiga Business School and different courses in England and Saudi Arabia.