With most of the focus in the state being split between football and cricket, alternative sports find themselves not getting the recognition they seek. One such representative of these sports is skating enthusiast Brendon Sapeco
A lot of emotion and heartfelt gratitude comes through in acandid conversation with 19 year old Brendon Sapeco. He recounts the story of adream to excel at roller skating; a relatively unheard of sport. The journeyinvolved unwavering support from his family, and a venture into an area that heknew nothing about. Yet, it was a gamble that paid off. He says, “My fathertravelled to Bombay with me and we bought gear we did not know much about. Wehad to literally put it together like pieces of a puzzle. The end result wasthoroughly satisfactory though. It is the same gear that has won me muchacclaim.”
Tracking back through time, Brendon explains that hispenchant with the sport lay in watching events such as the ‘X-Games’. Thisprompted a determined, yet unsuccessful attempt at self-learning. “After thatattempt, I did a little research, and discovered the existence of a trainer atDon Bosco in Panjim by the name of Navin Acharya. I started training with him,and after a short span in time he urged me to take the next step forward withhis senior students.”
This much needed push saw Brendon step up his game and movefrom the training centre at Don Bosco to the Youth Hostel skating rink inMiramar. Within no time, he found his skill developing, prompting a call up tothe Goa team. “I have had four outings thus far. Though some are so long ago,that I can barely recall when they happened. I have skated for the Goa team atPanchakula, Pune, Ahmedabad and Vishakapatnam.”
With 10 years of experience under his belt, Sapeco is nowthoroughly seasoned in the area of roller skating. He has won nine gold medalsin his sporting career, yet, he finds the recognition that he deserves notforthcoming. “It is not surprising,” he adds. “The future of the sport isbleak. My former trainer (Navin Acharya)stopped coaching a while ago, and eversince then, there has been no interest from any organisation to promote thesport in Goa.”
Yet, Sapeco believes that the next generation of skaters arewell up to the challenge of taking the sport forward. Limited by a recurringknee injury sustained in the Panchkula championship, he helps instructchildren. “I help a young trainer by the name of Gareth Vaz develop a batch ofschool students that show immense promise. I aid in his training programmes. Itis my way of ensuring that the sport does not die an unnaturally young death.”
