Ten years ago the women's paddle championship began in the Donostiarra neighborhood of Herrera. The Borracho Frentekideak tournament was created in 1987, but in 2014 women left the stands and occupied the center of the pediment.
In June 1987, several men from the Herrera district of San Sebastian began to do some sport on weekends, without giving up the poteo of weekends. Hence the name of the Borracho Frentekideak shovel championship. Until 2014, however, only men participated, but in 2014 women offered for the first time the first exhibition and in 2015 the first Borracho Frentekide women's paddle championship was played. “What was originally a four or five crazy stone, soon achieved recognition and admiration among the blacksmiths,” the promoters say. In June it is 10 years since this first demonstration.
Amaia Jorge Elorz and Naike Azurza Carne are some of the protagonists of this process of change and with them has been ARGIA. With the participation of their partners, neighbors..., a proposal was made to the organization. “Do it,” they answered and started playing with the tennis ball. They were offered the possibility to make an exhibition at the end of the 2014 male, and the initiative was formally created the following year.
But the initial experience was not easy, as Amaia Jorge has confessed: “At first it became strange, I am not very open with people I don’t know, and in those two years we recurred to people we didn’t know to complete the tournament.” They highlight that in the last five years there has been an increase in interest and participation in the female paddle.
They say that one of the great achievements is maintaining the initiative over the years. The doubt that in the early years the initiative would go ahead was in the air, as they saw that attempts like other initiatives had failed. “This year we are very happy about the number of players, we have substitutes and that is very important,” said Naike Azurza. Although they have recognized that motherhood and childcare condition the frequency of play and training, they consider it important to have substitutes for these breaks.
As women, they face several challenges. The men’s championship has been 37 years and each year they have had a maximum of ten pairs. In the case of women, in these ten years there have been four couples and this year there have been seven. “Our great challenge is to reach the same number of couples, ten couples and be able to maintain them.”
To achieve this goal, as has been done so far, they continue to encourage the participation of neighbours and all the people they know. People of different ages participate, the youngest around 24 years and those over 45 years.
As far as the media and facilities are concerned, they have not had any major difficulties as they have joined the men’s championship. “Starting to zero, it would have been harder to have the same impact on the local community.”
As for short-term objectives, they would like to go to the next competition with one more partner. In the long term, “as we have done ten years, to see if we reach the age of 30 and if that generational change occurs and if the grip on the blade remains”.
They relate to public institutions, but they organize their activities independently.
10 Anniversary, 8 June
The 10th anniversary of Herrera’s festivities is celebrated on June 8. To celebrate, on the day of the final they have organized a special event. They have invited all the women who have participated in these years. The male and female finals will be displayed, which through a popular meal want to celebrate their achievements and strengthen the community.