I PRACTICE KARATE
SANDRA SÁNCHEZ
A CLOSE
LOOK
Hey there! My name is Sandra Sánchez. I consider myself a funny, restless and playful munchkin, full of dreams and enthusiasm. I am in love with karate, which makes me feel overjoyed at my career. As far as I can remember, I have always wanted to achieve an only goal; thus, I will keep going in my personal pursuit of this dream, step by step. Clearly, this has been a very long and tough journey; nonetheless, if I have been able to come this far, through sweat, tears and sacrifice, I am not stopping now.
In my personal case, I feel an extraordinary satisfaction when I have been able to give my best in every training; sometimes, even more than when winning a competition. Besides, it is not easy to be a female athlete, who is competing by my age. As a matter of fact, there is almost no time for relax when competing at this high-standard; since, new goals and objectives show up along the way. Hence, you must always be prepared to overcome these new obstacles by training both your body and your mind. In particular, the challenge of keeping up this level as number 1 in the WKF ranking is greater and greater.
However, if I have a goal in mind, nobody can stop me!
MY ORIGINS
AND BEGINNINGS
I grew up in the humble city of Talavera de la Reina (Toledo, Spain). Certainly, I must admit that my commencement in karate was caused by “envy”, since – even at the early age of four – everyone could notice my strong personality, as I trialled my parents continuously by reassuring my own convictions and ideas. For instance, I could not stand dancing; thus, I changed the matter of subject and decided to try with karate.
Consequently, I insisted on this idea of karate, until my parents allowed me to start my training in the gym where my brother Pakito had been signed up. Everyone believed I would get bored very soon. However, I proved them all wrong; since, I feel completely in love with karate since then and now, thirty years of practise, it has become a way of life and my current professional career. Evidently, karate has formed my personality, making what I am today.
To illustrate, I can remember several occasions in which the discipline that karate has instilled in me has come to my aid, by guiding me to the right path, showing me my own way and helping me to overcome every obstacle arisen in my personal life.
I LOVE
TRAVELLING
Travelling is the hobby that walks along with my vocation. To illustrate, I love saving some money in a cash box in order to travel anywhere. For this reason, I often take advantage of my competitions and seminars along the world by finally visiting plenty of those countries I used to dream of when I was a child.
Even though most of the times I have to go from the sports centre to the hotel and vice versa, I love the possibility of getting to know new people and their cultures, which allows me to study my opponents’ national customs. For instance, while I spent some time in Australia as a “survivor”, I could also work as a top qualified professional in Dubai.
However, the countries I have always yearned to visit were in Asia; Japan, in particular, was the place I could not wait to see. Thus, you can imagine, when I was finally able to travel there, I just did not want to leave. Besides, I was overjoyed at training with several great masters such as Inoue, Higaonna and Sakumoto, as well as top competitors like Rika Usami. Definitely, I was making every moment count in my most desired dream…
APPEARANCES
ARE DECEPTIVE
While competing, it looks like – because of my extreme concentration – that I am a serious and, even, could person. Nonetheless, this is not my personality at all. In fact, most people change their minds about myself when they get to know me more closely, since I am a very talkative person who enjoys laughing.
In my personal view, I think that trying to be in a good frame of mind the longer the better is a very positive asset for every personal aspect. Clearly, this idea helps me to give my best when competing under pressure. To illustrate this, I remember the first time my partners in the national team called me “llaverito” as a fondly nickname just because I looked alike to a souvenir little key-chain. Now, every time I can hear them cheering me up by shouting this nickname, I feel calm and confident before every final.
Among my hobbies we can find a wide variety of activities such as reading, listening to music, handcrafts like painting t-shirts and even cooking oak&chocolate cookies. Evidently, I love sports; hence, I practice different sports for conditioning purposes; being, of course, very careful about potential injuries.
Did you know I had a crush on Son Goku when I was a child? This fictional character reminds me of my childhood and all the moments I could spend along with my brother. For this reason, I take the dragon balls with me to every championship as a lucky charm.
MY STORY
WITH JESÚS DEL MORAL
By the time I finished studying my degree and came back from my sabbatical time to travel the world, I had quitted karate. At this point, I was encouraged to begin training and competing again. However, I was aware of my own weaknesses and knew I had to improve both my physical and technical preparation if I wanted to succeed.
Jesús was, in my opinion, the only person able to help me with this difficult task. Nevertheless, getting to train with him was not easy as you could expect, since my requests to practice karate with this well-known coach were rejected many times. Evidently, I realised I had to keep trying my best to succeed, so I did until I was finally accepted to his gym. I have to admit I am a really persistent and determined person.
Then, the day I could finally train with him I realised my high expectations about his competence were not baseless. Similarly, I was also determined to show him I would not let him down from this very first practice. From that day, we have learned together, creating a great team that has led as this far… Thanks to this mutual understanding, even as a couple, we complement each other perfectly. Hence, we plan every practice together, learning every day from this routine.
SPAIN
IS IN MY HEART
Clearly, the privilege of having the badge of the national team on my karategi is not the result of an easy path. For this reason, I feel extremely proud every time I get selected to represent my country and my flag round the world. Consequently, I give absolutely my best in every round, feeling really confident that I will be able to reach a gold medal for Spain, which makes me feel overjoyed.
After every kata, no matter the round or the result, it is time to display the basic principles of karate; respect and honesty, in particular. Even now, after so long, every time I win a championship I feel thrilled – as a little child – to listen to my national anthem and to see how the Spanish flag is raised while I am on the podium. These are moments I will never forget, since I admit to being satisfied with my achievements.
MY DAILY
WORK
My favourite catchphrase is: “Don’t quit, keep going until you can turn something impossible into a reality”. Of course, I consider myself a really hard-working person, as I am always beavering away at karate.
Certainly, the achievement of becoming WKF #1 in female kata comes as the result of a long way, in which daily hard work and sacrifice have played a key role. Clearly, genetics might be considered a key aspect in top level competition; nevertheless, I consider both parts – genetics and hard work – as equals in the way to become a world class athlete. For instance, I literally give my all for karate, as I spend more than 6 hours training in the elite sports centre located in Madrid.
Surely, all this specific physical-technical training reflects on my kata performances. Every time I compete, I feel confident about this previous work, since I can almost feel its real application along the kata. In particular, “Papporen” is my“tokui kata” (favourite kata).
ON MY WAY TO THE
WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS AND THE OLYMPIC GAMES
Naturally, representing my country is – as stated before – a great honour for me. However, this gift also entails a great responsibility.
As for the near future, the most important goal is, of course, the Olympic Games held Tokyo in 2020. The classification to Tokyo will be determined by the Premier League ranking. Thanks to the inclusion of karate in the Olympic programme by the IOC, these two years present as an amazing and challenging run for those Olympic medals which might, surely, be considered as the ultimate recognition to a brilliant professional career. For this reason, my next goal is to be competing in Tokyo 2020.
The International Karate Federation has been struggling for years to make this (Olympic) dream become a reality. Hence, I think this triumph will imply positive consequences for the future. Karate is practiced by more than 10 million people around the world, organised in 191 national federations which feel proud to be representatives of this discipline around the World, encouraging other people to start practicing karate.
