"We are not different teams"

On Monday afternoon, Ciutat Esportiva Joan Gamper breathes a special atmosphere full of enthusiasm and enthusiasm. Those of the members of the Barça Foundation team of the Genuine League. All, players and ‘staff’ spontaneously go there, without charging a euro, and they do so using the greatest machine they can possess, which represents the shield of FC Barcelona.

The club will open today at LaLiga Genuine in Las Palmas against Fundación Albacete and the players and coaches have been waiting for this moment for a long time. Developed by 20 men and 4 women with functional diversity, it was created recently in line with one of the first goals in the social sphere of the Joan Laporta Board of Directors and one of the first actions taken on the new Diversity and Inclusion department. of the Club. The Barça Foundation is part of the Compañerismo group and will compete with 17 other teams. Three of them, Fundación Albacete, UD Las Palmas and Eibar Fundazioa, will be rivals of the azulgranas in this first round of LaLiga Genuine Santander

His coach, Sergi Mascarell, admitted in a chat with MD that “for me it represents a privilege and a responsibility to show the image of the club that Barcelona has and to represent it in this team. The attitude , dedication and enthusiasm of the team is superb ”. The coach added that “Barça have shown the‘ moon rather than a club ’thing on countless occasions, in this case re -betting on integration and integration within the sport, advancing on a social level”. The Barcelona coach added that “on the one hand we are making this issue normal and not making it weak. We are working hard and demanding, we are only understanding serious work to be given. Apart from the different capacities that may exist, unified we will talk about the people, about a team like the others and we will pursue what the club has been doing for many years, we don’t want to be a different team ”.

One of the players on the squad, Dani Rodríguez, told the MD that “we are excited and excited and hope to start the season with our teammates”. For Dani it was “a very young age, playing for Barça was a huge dream and now it’s time to face new challenges”. From his day-to-day on the team, he said “we have to be up for the job and make a lot of effort”. Dani said “it’s an illusion to play against teams we haven’t competed against and are satisfied with goals with the team”. He defines himself as “a very versatile player and I can play where the coach says, I’m a bit reckless and they have to give me guidelines and correct me but I improve myself and grow as a player”. Finally, he was grateful for the club’s commitment: “They’ve been working here for many years and it eventually came to fruition and this project emerged.” The footballer confessed that “I have been very culé since I was little and I was a collector of shirts, I never thought I would get to where I am now. Iniesta, Xavi, Ronaldinho, Messi, the list of favorites will be very long ”.

The enthusiasm of the players was as usual when they were seen at the gates of Ciutat Esportiva waiting for training time to arrive. Their commitment is such that they usually arrive ahead of time to make themselves available to coaches. “A coach always seeks to see people with enthusiasm and that comes from the players, but we coaches also need to stimulate it,” Mascarell said.

Without forgetting the obligation to compete, “when you wear the shield of Barça you always have to come out and win”, says Mascarell, the team is formed in accordance with the standard of equality and balance both in terms of gender and types of performance diversity. Barça is one of the few teams to include athletes with Down Syndrome in its ranks. It is a competition where goals are valued but also sportsmanship, fair play, teamwork, respect and self -improvement, and the battles are played in four to ten minute parts and each of these parts is gives one point to the winner, so the sum of the match goes to whoever has the most points out of those four. Teams can be mixed (male and female) and must consist of players over 16 years of age and with a minimum intellectual disability of 33%, with no limit to foreign players.

Finally, Sergi Mascarell is clear that “now, with good numbers from the professional league, everything is fine. The next step is definitely in the minds of the League and the clubs. It just shouldn’t be a reality. , but it must expand and more.

PLAYERS

Abel Brau (goalkeeper) 25 years

Cristian Ginestar (goalkeeper) 25 years old

Sergi Rodríguez (defender) 25 years

Ángel Guillorme (defender) 18 years old

Marc Cutillas (defender) 22 years

Adrià Alonso (defender) 24 years old

Pablo Sánchez (defender) 23 years

Vladimir Alert (defender) 22 years

Montserrat Durà (medium) 34 years

Miguel Chavarría (center) 24 years old

Polo Montía (center) 22 years

Dani Rodríguez (center) 30 years

Jenifer Cabanillas (center) 19 years old

Manel Solà (forward) 23 years old

Joan Alexandre Masoliver (forward) 29 years old

Alessandra Campanini-Bononi (forward) 21 years old

Marco Povedano (forward) 24 years old

Salvador Vidal (forward) 18 years old

Marco Jiménez (forward) 19 years old

Kamal El Yachou (forward) 23 years old

Guillem Angles (forward) 24 years old

Guillermo Joan Coder (forward) 21 years old

Elisabeth Fernández-Arroyo (front) 20 years

Amine Bachir. (front) 17 years

THE STAFF

Sergio Mascarell (coach)

Josep Ferré (assistant coach)

Tina González (psychologist)

Emilio Gómez (assistant technician)

Beth Puigdesens (clinical psychologist)

Francesc Martínez (trainer-psychologist)