Emerging athlete and strategist

 

ImagenIn my childhood I enjoyed all kinds of sports. I’d play endless games of football in the street and at school. But it wasn’t all football; I also loved basketball, handball, judo and swimming. I’d always compete to win. I was pretty good at regularly taking home a medal. In my spare time I used to play board games like chess or ‘Stratego’, a very popular game at the time based on military strategy.

ImagenObviously, it wasn’t all fun and games. I had to study. I have many good memories of my time at the ‘San Buenaventura School’ in Madrid, especially those with the football team. We became Madrid School Champions when I was 12 – the first trophy of my football career.

The following year, I successfully achieved the childhood dream that everyone had: at 13 years old I joined the Read Madrid Academy through a competition called ‘Social Tournament’. From here I joined Castilla U-15, a reserve team of Real Madrid. After many years of effort and dedication with Castilla, I joined the Real Madrid U-18 team where we became Spanish Champions.

ImagenThroughout my progressing football career I never neglected my education, which was very important to me. All 2000 pesetas (12 euros) I earned as a wage through playing football I saved to pay for my university fees.
Naturally, my degree had to be in Physical Education, which I studied at the INEF in Madrid. I balanced my university studies with my playing career. This meant a 45 minutes run every day, from the Complutense University campus, through to corridors of the Metro, to finally arrive at the Real Madrid Training Ground. Needless to say, I never needed to warm up before training.