• Psychoblock The folly of climbing without a rope

For almost a decade, a Spaniard felt what Leo Messi feels today, thought what LeBron James thinks today, perceived what Roger Federer perceives: surely they do not know him, his name is Miquel Julià. According to his rivals, at that time he did the impossible and made it easy, he discovered the future, he invented the game, but all this happened in a sport that barely has 300 licenses in Spain, that it is not Olympic nor does it have any appearance of being it and that frankly a strange mixture: the 'horse ball'. «At that time, I was honestly aware that I was in top shape, that everything was going well, that I was capable of doing what I wanted. It's a hard feeling to explain without sounding cocky, but it was so. Now, for example, I don't feel that anymore. I feel slower, one point behind ", Julià admits that he is history in his sport, but what sport?

Legend has it that the horse ball comes from the brute Afghan buzkashi , a basketball on horseback played with a decapitated goat as a ball and a few holes as baskets, but it is not true. In reality, the horse ball is a refinement of the Argentine duck , in which four riders per team score in two baskets located at the ends of a very long field. A Frenchman, Jean-Paul Dupont, who was traveling to Argentina to offer horse riding and rugby lessons, discovered him on the vast pampa and, on appropriation, adopted his rules.

Horse ball is also played in teams of four, but on a much smaller court (65x25 meters) and with progressively restrictive regulations. The contacts are increasingly sanctioned, before throwing to the basket three passes must be made and, among other things, no player can hold the ball for more than 10 seconds.

"In 1998, the first league"

«In Spain, the sport came in the late 90's, from people who had seen it in France, and began to import it, first to Madrid, then to Catalonia ... Teams were created and, in 1998, the first league. Actually, it was frowned upon at first . In the horse riding we were seen as brutes, everyone preferred polo, and they were somewhat right because there were those who started in horse ball almost without knowing how to ride a horse. Now the riders are very good technically, the sport increasingly limits contact and we are more recognized in general, "says Julià, somehow a child prodigy. Son of the owner of the Horse Riding Can Tramp in Cardedeu, at 12 years a monitor from the center discovered him the horse ball, at 17 the club he rode with some friends was already playing the Champions and at 19 they were already champions.

Only the phenomenon was missing. The team that created, the Club d'Equitació Esportiva Cardedeu , won six Champions in nine years (2009, 2011, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017) and transformed the discipline: the French, who had been playing practically alone for 30 years, did not they had no choice but to relearn, to make their horses faster, to become more agile on them. The horse ball was a very fast game, very precise. And Julià became a teacher that all young people had to go to know the quintessence of the discipline. “Now I dedicate myself exclusively to horse ball training and horse training, in fact this summer I am giving several technification clinics . I keep playing, but in a different way. I am 32 years old and I have to give way to others », comments the rider, always between two realities: he is famous for his; outside, nobody knows him.

One injury a year

"There was a time when even friends of mine thought he was making enough money, almost as if he were a footballer. But what goes. The reality is that horse ball is a very small sport, very little known outside the equestrian world ", concludes Julià, who defends her sport from criticism-" I have 50 horse ball horses and, on average, one injury a year . There is contact, but it is very regulated »- and that he has postponed his last dream due to the coronavirus, like so many athletes.

After winning the last two Europeans with Spain against France, this summer he had to lift his first World Cup , but the tournament was canceled due to the pandemic. Along with young people who learned with him, such as Gil Carbonés, considered the best on the planet right now, the Spanish team was very close to assaulting the skies of horse ball, taking away the maximum recognition in the discipline from the Gauls, when everything stopped. . It will be necessary to wait for next year and then Julià will possibly consider withdrawing. After all, he has already felt the same as Leo Messi feels, he has thought the same as Lebron James thinks, he has perceived the same as Roger Federer perceives.

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