The Lenia Ruvalcaba Cup: Fostering Talent in Judo
With the aim of creating a tournament where children who are starting their careers in judo have the opportunity to gain experience, Lenia Fabiola Ruvalcaba Álvarez - gold medalist at the 2016 Paralympic Games in Rio - created the Lenia Ruvalcaba Cup.
In an interview with La Afición, the 31-year-old para-athlete explained the details of the initiative, which aims to "make all the states realize that not only are there children from the National Olympic Games, but also children who need to compete with people of their level, in order to later have no problems being part of the national team."
"Last year, when I returned from Rio 2016, I decided to join CODE Jalisco (State Council for Sports Development); there, I realized that a tournament was needed to promote new or future Judo talents," said the Guadalajara native. In order to carry out this project, she had to partner with local organizations, as well as some private companies. "I am working together with the director of COMUDE Tlaquepaque, Lorena Corona, and with CODE Jalisco to organize this tournament."
After four months of work, the competition that aims to help young judo novices was successfully held. "There are novice kids who want to compete. However, unfortunately, sometimes they can't win because they have very little time," said the silver medalist at the 2008 Paralympics in Beijing.
However, organizing this tournament faced the obstacle of acquiring sponsors. "Getting sponsorships hasn't been easy, but I knew it would be like that. When I've tried to get support for myself, directly from sponsors, I haven't had a response. I knew I was taking that risk."
The competition will only be for children aged 3 to 12; they must have no more than two years of practicing the Japanese discipline and they should not have been National or State champions. There will be no limit to the number of participants, and there will only be a registration fee of 75 pesos.
The first-place winners will receive a judogi as an award, while the prizes for second and third place are yet to be determined. Regarding this, Lenia pointed out: "We want the children to be motivated, to have an incentive for them to say next year: 'Yes, we want to go because we were treated very well'."
The Lenia Ruvalcaba Cup will take place at the Cancha MVP in Tlaquepaque, Jalisco. Registrations will open on October 30 and close on November 8. As it is the first edition, only the conventional category will be available (although it is hoped that the Paralympic category can be included next year).
"I hope everything goes well. The future of sports in Mexico, not only judo but in general, lies in the children," Ruvalcaba concluded.