Covenants make international experience viable for young Brazilian athletes

Detalhes

Publicado em Quinta, 09 Agosto 2012 18:00

In the last two years, the Ministry of Sport has intensified covenants with sport confederations in order to ensure that Brazilian athletes may travel abroad for competitions and train with athletes at the international level. The experience acquired as a result of this, means that athletes, particularly the younger ones, arrive at major competitions, such as world championships and the Olympic Games more prepared.

For the National Secretary of High Performance Sport of the Ministry of Sport Ricardo Leyser, experiencing other realities makes young athletes mature faster. "We have verified that these covenants have been important, particularly the support we give to young teams. A lot of the times, this was the first experience abroad the athletes of these teams had. We believe it is important for when the athletes compete in a world championship or the Olympic Games, that they have had experience with the world?s best athletes."

Rocardo Leyser adds that the partnerships also allow for all the support necessary to supply athletes with better services. "Some of the actions we carried out, served to prepare for London and are also aimed at Rio 2016. Several confederations rely on the direct support of the federal government, which allows for the hiring of a multidisciplinary team, with a sport psychologist, doctors, physiotherapist, in other words, all the support necessary", he said.

The aim of the federal government is to work with at least three generations of athletes, focusing on Rio 2016. "We are investing in the under 19 and 21 teams, and what we see is that there is a lot of pressure. The Olympic Games place a burden on the athletes and international experience is necessary to handle the psychological part. The sooner Brazilian athletes have this experience, be it at the Olympic Games or at the Youth Olympic Games, the sooner they will be ready for high performance", explained the Secretary.

The investments, particularly in collective sports, pave the way that goes from the junior categories to the international, so that good results may be achieved.

Breno Barros, from London
Photo: Publicising/COB
Ascom - Ministry of Sport
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