In the championships for boys and girls there are mainly boys.

Garazi Lizarraga: Yes, and that itself can somehow discourage enrollment. It's a vicious circle: you see the list and they're all boys, it seems like it's a boys' championship, not mixed.

Alba Sistiaga: And if you're a girl, you think you're not on the same level, you're not going to carve, you can be very embarrassing ...

Dr. G. L.: We're not used to mixed sports. From a certain age the boys separate us from the boys and girls with the girls, and from there you have no option to play mixed sport, except in this type of popular competitions, but as before you have not worked to play with the boys, when the possibility of mixed sport does not take that step. If boys and girls were used to playing together, we would take this kind of competition differently. In other words, we have to worry: for girls to join these championships normally, we have to start playing mixed sport in childhood and continue working as they move forward.

A. P.: Yes, because sometimes the physical capacities are limited, but not always depending on the sport modality. In the paddle championship, for example, the boys have more strength than we do, but on many occasions they are more important than the strength the technique, the dexterity, the way we see it…

What can mixed sport bring?

A. P.: For example, I'm sure the girls' and boys' teams train differently, in the mixed you can do it both, and that's positive. Instead of playing only with a limited collective (in this case only with boys, or only with girls), if I play with everyone, it will be much more enriching, and I will learn much more from all, the experience will be broader.

Dr. G. L.: Like in life. It contributes to our relationship.

Would more girls be encouraged into the competition if separate categories were made for boys and girls?

Dr. G. L.: At first I thought that doing two levels could be appropriate to distinguish those who are very good and those who are not so good and to play at their level, and to avoid them, although it is not a general trend, to reach a couple and “step” to you, without hardly leaving any opportunity to do so many and play. But then I realized that that's creating ghettos and that the popular championship has to be mixed and open for everyone to play with everyone, because we also want to play against good couples. But we want to play, and to do so, those good couples have to lower the category or not give everything in the pediment.

A. P.: In fact, it's a popular championship of a few parties, not a professional championship, and people don't have that very clear.

Is competitiveness still a matter for men?

A. P.: Well, we are also very competitive, although we know that we are not at the same height.

What purpose do you propose?

Dr. G. L.: Our challenge is to make 10 as many.

Are there different ways of understanding competitiveness?

Dr. G. L.: I think so, because although we are competitive, there are others who live differently, so competitive, so extreme, that they don't leave you a little bit, they prefer breakdown before playing. And we understand that there are other values beyond competitiveness; we prefer that the two couples can play and that the other couples also have fun. Extreme competition is a general trend: we also participate in the football tournament organised by the Gaztetxe, we are the only two girls, and many boys play as if it were vital. Through television we collect the model of professional sport and I would say that it has a lot of influence, competitiveness is great in amateur competitions of any people.

A. P.: We came to play, we did not sign up for the championship not to play the ball… Anyway, in the case of the Moscow Shovel Championship, the popular character is maintained and anyone can sign up. Why don't new people sign up? That is what should be looked at.

Who is it to maintain the popular character of the competition?

Dr. G. L.: Available to participants and new participants. We have to be aware that this is a championship within popular parties, and that the philosophy and spirit of these parties also wants it and must maintain the championship. And if some play as professionals, they don’t encourage new people from another profile…
A. P.: But it's in our hands to turn it around. As we have pointed out, if there are more girls, or people of another profile, we will also give that character to the competition.

In this regard, the organizers of the championship have added a note for this year’s edition. The note reads as follows: “Remember that it’s a popular championship, that the only goal is to have a good time with everyone and get to know each other. All players will have to play with respect to the other pairs, it is not a competitive championship (that does not mean that you cannot play nice and tough games, of course).”

A. P.: It is important to underline this so that those enrolled know what they are involved in. However, it is a subject that goes beyond the task of the championship: education and pre-work is the key to becoming aware of other values in sport.

This is the third edition of the Behobia-San Sebastian since the championship was recovered. In the first one you participated three girls, last year only vosotras. What experience have you had so far?

A. P.: We had a great time. We go out and compete, we get angry... Ha, ha, ha. We felt comfortable. They don't treat us differently because they're women. Some people lower the level because we have a lower level, but not because we are women.
Dr. G. L.: And others act with an extraordinary force, to which we cannot respond. The better the score, the better it will be for the championship. We have never been left to zero, but we have been left to another couple. Is that popular?
A. P.: Yes, there is everything.

What would you do to encourage more girls?

A. S: For starters, the girls are much less on the fronts. We have received a different education and the boys have been more focused on sport, the girls have not. At the parties of our neighborhood, for example, girls are organizing the market, or running children's games.
Dr. G. L.: Perhaps we should organize a course to encourage girls during the year to the pediment, not precisely to encourage them to participate in the championship. We should work from the very beginning, there is a fundamental problem: Why do we never see shovel in public leaflets, in a village of 61,000 people? The pediment remains a very masculine field. The child, from a young age, always sees the boys on the pediment and the girls in other areas, and does not intend to go to the pediment, has a strange terrain, does not feel its place, because from a young age we are feeding certain tendencies. That's what we need to turn around.
A. P.: Watching more balls on TV would, for example, help to make women visible on the front page and encourage the public.
Dr. G. L.: Another way might be that we start as organizers, two girls, and even though the current organizer has the same sensitivity as us and drives it, for those outside can influence that the image they receive is ours.
A. P.: I'm not so clear... Everyone is in their power to take the step and for me, for example, the participation of highly competitive people is not a constraint. I understand that there are some who have these fears, but I would encourage them to take away all the fears.

Sistiaga and Lizarraga are competitive, but on top of that, the two couples prefer to play and the rest of the couple also have fun. They repel fears and encourage girls to sign up for the championship.