Hockey in most countries is an amateur sport, although played at a high-performance level. But in some places, it can be more amateur than in others. Conditions, infrastructure, and the budget allocated to the development of the sport—all these factors influence how many sacrifices players must make to wear their national team’s jersey. Talent alone is not enough. There’s much more behind it: postponing the dream of becoming a mother, traveling more than three hours every day to train, relying on financial support from family, giving up a social life, starting the day at 5 a.m. to juggle studying, working, and training with the national team, and ending it at 1 a.m. All of this is driven by the love for their flag—in these cases, Paraguay and Brazil—with the immediate goal of the Pan American Cup.
On July 24, the continental tournament that qualifies teams for the World Cup and the Pan American qualifier will begin in Montevideo. Eight women’s and eight men’s teams will compete. But above all, there will be stories to tell.
María Cecilia Catebra Martínez is 30 years old and one of the most experienced players on the Paraguayan team, with 80 caps (including Hockey 5s and Hockey 11s). She’s been part of the national team process since she was 14, and when she says she has “given her life” to it, she means it literally. “The national team means everything to me. I’ve dedicated my whole life to this, and I don’t regret a thing. Wearing the Albirroja is the greatest privilege one can have. It’s an honor, and I do it with all the love in the world.”
Cecilia works in a women’s clothing company, in retail management. But she’s also a licensed nutritionist and, in her so-called "free time" (if you can call it that), she sees patients in her private practice. “My day starts at six. I work from 8 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., then I go to the gym at 6:30, and at 8 p.m. I train with the national team until around 10:30 p.m. I have to go straight from work to the Olympic Committee because it’s hard to go home first due to the distances,” she said. Her daily life is essentially about balancing work and full dedication to the team. “Sometimes I feel like I’m putting off my dream of becoming a mom. The desire to keep playing is always strong, but I also want to be a mother. I’ve always prioritized the national team over my social life—I hardly go out because I’m training. But if I speak of dreams, I’m definitely postponing motherhood for this,” she explained, with a mix of sadness, longing, and conviction.
In Brazil, that same level of effort can be seen—embodied, among others, by Fábio Assis Santana. He’s one of those atypical cases in sports, which makes it even more compelling. He started playing at age 20 with his club, Rio Hockey. Four years later, he was scouted and called up to wear the “verdeamarela.” Now 34, he’s about to play his second continental cup (his first was in 2017), and his love for his country remains just as romanticized as it was on day one. He lives far from where technical training takes place, but no distance can dim his enthusiasm. “I live in Nilópolis, a city in the Baixada Fluminense region of Rio de Janeiro. I study and work. I’m studying Systems Analysis and Development and working as a programmer. I usually wake up at 5:40 a.m., do a functional workout, and then physical training. I get home by 8:30 and start work from there. In the afternoon, I go to the gym, and at night I do another training session. On Saturdays and Sundays, I train on the hockey field, which takes me about an hour and a half to get to. I have to take three buses,” Fábio shared.
But what others might see as reasons to give up, he does not. He knows that staying on this path requires sacrifice. He wants to achieve great things, and no one gets there without effort. “I’ve always had a lot of support from my family. My university is part of a project by the Brazilian Olympic Committee, and yes, I love playing for the national team. As an athlete, I want to win a medal at the Pan American Cup and the South American Cup, and qualify for the Pan American Games,” he explained. He added, “As a legacy, I want to help new generations start playing hockey at a younger age. I started at 20. My club, Rio Hockey, has school programs to introduce hockey to children. My main goal is to get many kids to play hockey—they are the future. So I want to leave a legacy: that there are always children in Brazil who know how to play hockey.” He’s not just thinking about the present. He knows his own path requires more sacrifice now so it’s easier for those who follow.
There’s one thing that everyone involved in this sport agrees on, regardless of conditions or geography. It’s unanimous, and Fábio summed it up perfectly: “I believe sport is a beautiful path to discipline and education. And my biggest dream is that hockey changes more lives in Brazil, the way it changed mine. Hockey is a wonderful sport—the more kids play, the happier we’ll be.”
In the end, putting dreams on hold is relative. Because there’s one dream they are living: representing their country. And with so much effort and dedication, the others will surely come too.
