Pam, pam, pam, pam ... and so 10, 20, 30 touches with the stick to the ball, late at night at the base of Torrejón de Ardoz, after a whole day with the Military Emergency Unit (UME) working on the disinfection of nursing homes. José Antonio 'Nene' González, military and field hockey player, or field hockey player and military? "I couldn't tell you, I couldn't tell you. For example, these weeks of so much work, although the shifts have been long, I have continued training. I have not stopped. I am passionate about hockey. But I did not think about competition, I just wanted to distract the mind. I arrived at the base of Torrejón and did some individual technique with the stick and some power circuit. Always before stretching in bed because if I stretched I would no longer get up, "says González, 29, after an express adaptation to your new situation.

Until March 14, when the Government decreed the state of alarm, he was the rookie of the unit - he arrived just in January - and, in addition, a somewhat strange rookie: he spoke to the rest of a sport, field hockey, almost unknown in the Army and above practiced it to a remarkable level. From Torrejón, whenever he could, he kept going down on the weekends to his city, San Fernando, to play with his longtime club in the First Division. But the crisis forced him to quickly acclimatize to the UME and, of course, left him without games.

An express adaptation

“I was adapting and, in fact, I was in the alert hangar at the Torrejón base when the state of alarm was declared. In the EMU, the usual thing is to intervene in floods, snowfalls, fires ... but this time it was different. We had to learn very fast. At first we patrolled the street, and then we went into disinfection. The first weeks there were no breaks or schedules, but that effort was necessary. Now, despite everything, we are already in another situation and we are even trying to reorganize ourselves to intervene both in the control of the pandemic and in the fires that may take place, "says González, who recounts some delicate moments of the pandemic.

For example, the reception of the elderly in centers that disinfect: “You have to be empathetic, be careful in contact with grandparents, especially with the sick. Many thank you for your work, but others are scared, as is also logical. At first it happened more to us because nobody knew what it was about. There have been hard episodes ». Or, for example, the lack of protective material: “We have always been careful with everything and if it can be reused, it is reused. It is a delicate matter, but we take the maximum possible precautions ».

Family tradition

González points out that both present, the Army and field hockey, come from the same past: his father served in the Navy and played as a goalkeeper. Then he, like everyone else, tried to get away from the marked path, but he only stayed in small variations. Instead of the Navy, he was in the Legion and in the Airborne Brigade, from where he left on a mission to Lebanon. And instead of goalkeeper, he became a scorer. «I had always wanted to be in the UME and, therefore, as soon as the opportunity came, I came. But at the same time I have always tried to keep playing. San Fernando is a very familiar club and, although several players live outside, we follow the same training plan and go down whenever we can. It has cost us some bad streak, some complicated season, but it is the spirit of the team, "explains González.

“During these weeks it has made a great impression on me how things can change from one day to the next. The change of seeing how Madrid was in the first days of confinement, the despair of many sick people, the uncertainty of not knowing what will happen and how everything will evolve. These are weeks that we will remember for a lifetime, "González ends with a resounding wish, that the pandemic be under control, and another light, but equally valid, hope to play a game sooner or later and if it can be to get his San Fernando to ascend to Honor Division.

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

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