Champions with diabetes

champions with diabetes

Madrid.- Álvaro and José Ángel proudly show their bronze medals.They practically have just arrived from Switzerland, where they have raised third place in two categories of the Junior Cup Diabetes -a European soccer competition for young diabetics -and already repeat tirelessly that they do not see the time the next edition arrives.

For them, the experience has been double: they have not only tried the taste of the podium, but they have also lived with more than 150 players who, like them, know a lot about daily glucose controls and insulin injections.

"It is shocking to see as many people like you, you realize that you are not alone," says Álvaro, captain of the senior team and a veteran with the ball.

According to this 17 -year -old Extremadura, these types of initiatives are also important to demonstrate that diabetics can lead a completely normal life.

"Having diabetes does not prevent you from continuing with the things you like. Moreover, sport helps you to know and better control the disease, so you don't have to be afraid of it," says Álvaro.

"The exercise is as recommended in diabetics as in any other young man," confirms Bartolomé Bonet, a children's diabetes specialist at the Alcorcón Hospital (Madrid)."The only thing a person with diabetes has to know is that when doing sports it will be more sensitive to insulin, so he will have to adjust his doses."

'A normal life'
That was what José Ángel, 12 years old, member of the winning Junior team, did before the last match against Finland.The periodic control of its glucose levels and the adjustment of its insulin pump did not prevent it from continuing with tension a few balls to the crossbar that seemed not to want to become a goal."It was quite exciting," says José Ángel, who after the experience is thinking of changing football basketball, despite having played more than a year playing with the Fuenlabrada quarry.

Confirm the words of José Ángel his mother, María del Rosario, who followed the evolution of the tournament from the stands.Enchanted with the initiative, he says he has proven the benefits of sport in his son."In addition to feeling phenomenal, it has helped him to be very responsible and more autonomous with the control of diabetes," he says.

From the same opinion is Bartolomé Bonet, who says that, especially in adolescence, "sport helps to become more aware of the disease, because you have to think about how to adjust insulin, to drink a sugary liquid if you feel bad,etc".

"You want responsibility," says Álvaro, who plans to start next year the aeronautical career."But above all you learn to see that you are a normal person who has a special characteristic," he concludes.

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