Roberto Hernandez trains Costa Rican para-athlete on his way to Paris 2024 – – 2024-02-20 01:59:04

Goalkeeper Roberto Hernández has almost completed his first week as personal coach of Costa Rican para-athlete Diego Quesada, Parapan American runner-up, who is in an important phase of preparation for the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games.

Quesada, number eight in the world ranking of parashooting with a compound bow, explained that he chose Hernández because of the career and professionalism of the Santaneco archer, who has won gold medals at the Lima 2019 and Santiago 2023 Pan American Games.

“Diego has already qualified for Paris 2024 and in Costa Rica they have not had a coach since last year and he has sought my services as a personal trainer. We have agreed on a work plan between now and the Paralympic Games. He is number eight in the world and we want to contribute that extra grain, the intention is to be able to contribute at a professional level with a view to achieving a Paralympic medal,” said Hernández.

The plan defined with the Costa Rican will be one week of practice each month, so Diego Quesada will be traveling constantly from San José to the Salvadoran capital.

“For me it is a pride to be able to work with someone who has such a high level in the ranking, I had already done it with some archer friends of mine who looked for me to help them and I was in the World Cup finals with them. Now, having the opportunity in an area where I had never ventured is interesting and satisfying because you open up a range of opportunities at an international level,” Hernández reinforced.

For his part, the Costa Rican parathlete emphasized that the knowledge, advice and experience of the greatest figure of the Salvadoran compound arch will be key to being able to meet his goals in Paris 2024, which will be his second participation in the Paralympic Games, after Tokyo 2020.

“It is no secret that Roberto Hernández is one of the best coaches and a professional goalkeeper, I took that as a reference and chose him as my coach this year. I am qualified for the Paralympic Games and the contribution of a person like Roberto is necessary,” highlighted the Costa Rican.

“In the first days I already saw very big changes in terms of my posture and my arch, we are already improving many things and the decision I made was worth it. With Roberto’s technical and mental help, I think we are going to make a lot of progress,” said the 47-year-old archery para-athlete.

Diego Quesada has been a parathlete for seven years and at a competitive level since 2018, during which time he was positioned as number two in the world ranking of parashooting with a compound bow in May 2023.

His achievements also include participation in the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games and the silver medal at the Santiago 2023 Parapan American Games.

“It is a slightly different job, but as a coach it is an incentive that things are being done well and people at an international level are looking for me. I have three requests to take courses,” said Hernández.

Video analysis, biomechanical adjustments, technical process and arch adjustment are some of the topics in which Roberto Hernández supports the Costa Rican.

“We are in some negotiations to see the possibility that I can accompany him to Paris, but each federation has its structure. He is aware that he is getting reward in terms of knowledge and increasing his level here. “We are working with the intention of finding a medal for him,” Hernández added.

With this experience, Roberto continues to venture into Paralympic sport after leading some training sessions with the compound parashooter from El Salvador, Ever Lemus, who will be invited to join some practices.

“It is important for us to be able to enrich the Paralympic area and we intend to do some training with Ever Lemus, who is our parathlete and is in Santa Ana,” added Roberto.