He Atlético de Madrid visited The Sadar. It was a cold night in February 2014. It is possible that those in the Cholo Simeone will pay for the effort of having defeated the AC Milan in San Siro a few days before, but the fact is that health won 3-0 thanks to goals from Alvaro Cejudo, Emiliano Armenteros y Roberto Torres. While the red crowd went crazy every now and then, the television production took the opportunity to focus on three young people waving their shirts with their torsos exposed, oblivious to the low temperatures. Our protagonist was one of them.
The Pamplona native Diego Alonso27, doesn’t remember if he woke up with pneumonia the next day. On the other hand, he does keep that Cejudo goal as one of the most special of his life, since it served to defeat an Atlético de Madrid team that, a few months later, would be League champions eighteen years later. It may be one of the feats why Diego admires Simeone so much. “He has his shortcomings, like everyone, but I like his way of haranguing not only his players, but all the fans,” he explains to Capital Sport the current youth coach of the Rotxapea CDthe neighborhood team that saw him grow.
Diego “signed” for his first team when he started Primary Education, after his mother, María Ángeles Irañetaplanted in him the seed of the king of sport. “I studied in Beat and I joined the 8-a-side soccer team when I was six years old. “There I competed with kids older than me,” he recalls, then added that one of his favorite partners on the court was Miguel Olavideformer Osasuna player. Together with him he was proclaimed champion of the Navarra Futsal Championship before the latter signed for the rojillo team.
“I prefer to gain experience before taking the step to higher categories and prove to myself that I am worthy of training”
Currently, the junior squads are still being put together, and Diego is already considering returning to Irabia to “lend a hand” from the bench in his free time. “These are ages in which personal training is more important than football training. They must learn the values of sport,” he emphasizes.
He has been a youth coach in the neighborhood for only a few weeks, although he has been in charge of different teams since he was studying Journalism at the University of Navarra. your friend Carlos Bañales convinced him to train together in the Colegio Larraona. “With the nonsense, I have been training kids for almost ten years,” he highlights. Today, his pupils are around the age of majority, and he holds the UEFA C and UEFA B coaching titles after receiving coaching classes. Gorka Chocarro y Pablo Rotafrom the Methodology area in Osasuna; Mayor Angeldirector of Tajonar; either Gorka Araizcoach of CD Lerinés.
“This is my first year outside of formative football and with a more competitive component. “I would like to continue taking steps in this direction to be able to obtain UEFA A and train in the First Federation,” he highlights before mentioning that he has already discussed this possibility with his friend. Pablo Gascón, specialist coach in the lower categories of Osasuna after passing through the LaLiga Academy in Abu Dhabi. “He told me to take it off and he is absolutely right, but it is still my first year in youth. I prefer to gain experience before taking the step and prove to myself that I’m worth it,” he adds. In fact, the preparer of the UD Mutilvera, Jon Ander Unanuarecently sent him his training manual to help him with the first sessions.
YOUTUBE
His passion for regional Navarrese football arose after a summer of internships in Radio Marca Navarrawhere he took the opportunity to make contacts in the world. He was so hooked that he later continued on his own and, following the example of Rafa Writes (358,000 subscribers in YouTube thanks to his videos about the lower categories of Spanish football), he created his own channel on the platform almost four years ago.
His followers ask him on the street to record videos about their town’s teams for the YouTube channel.
He has almost 2,000 subscribers on YouTube, although his videos generate significantly more views. “My first video, the eliminatory of King’s Cup between the the best and the CD Graft“It got a thousand visits,” he recalls. However, Diego has never given importance to these statistics because he understands that regional football is “a very specific niche.” “I got the first thousand subscribers very quickly and that allowed me to monetize the channel, although I am more interested in publishing quality content than focusing on whether the videos have an impact. The digital world often pushes you to showbut I am looking to do something serious to value Navarrese football,” he highlights.
It is precisely this humble attitude that has allowed him to make a name for himself among teams throughout Navarra. In fact, the Rotxapea CD gave him a plaque for the video of his promotion, and he has also received t-shirts from many other teams as a sign of gratitude. “Obviously I can’t get to all the games I would like to because I work alone, but from time to time people stop me on the street, especially young people, to ask me to publish a video about their town team. That indicates that I am on the right path,” he highlights with a laugh.
