Virginia Torrecilla gives a moving speech at the 'Decyde 7 Forum'
The first event of the season 'Decyde 7 Forum' was held at the UCAM Sports Center and was attended by international sports personalities, such as football player, Virginia Torrecilla; Olympic champion, David Cal; and wheelchair basketball player, Sonia Ruiz.
UCAM Sports Center hosted the first day of the Decyde 7 Forum: ‘Health, Wellbeing and Sport’, which, on this occasion, was sponsored by Universidad Católica San Antonio de Murcia (UCAM) and CaixaBank.
The event, presented by the journalist Azucena Marín, began with the participation of Fernando J. Zaplana, director of Decyde Forum and CEO of Decyde Asesores; Susana Ruiz, commercial director of Retail of the Regional Division of CaixaBank in Murcia; Alejandro Leiva, secretary of the UCAM Faculty of Sports; and Pablo Rosique, general director of UCAM Sports.
The event was attended by three leading international athletes.
Virginia Torrecilla, player of Atlético de Madrid Femenino (Women’s team of Atlético de Madrid) and the Spanish Women's National Team, has shared her personal experience of overcoming cancer and suffering a traffic accident with her mother. ‘I'm not the Virginia I used to be. For me, the best thing right now is to live day by day and share it with my family. That is essential’, she stressed.
On the other hand, David Cal, Olympic champion and canoeist and Sonia Ruiz, player of the UCAM Murcia Weelchair Basketball team and of the Spanish National Weelchair Basketball Team, explained how they handled changes during their sports career.
The day also included the presentation of ‘Women in Sport: Gender Relations and Future Perspectives’ WOMEN-UP. This is a European project led by UCAM which promotes women's equality in sport.
The director of Decyde Forum stated: ‘Decyde Forum, an initiative we started in 2011, deals with sports-related issues from a more personal point of view. Stories which we believe should be told to help understand the transformative power of sport. This first day was just a taste of what is to come this year’.
For her part, the commercial director of CaixaBank Retail in Murcia stressed that ‘these Decyde Forum conferences teach values that CaixaBank shares with sports, such as leadership, effort, the ability to excel and teamwork’. Pablo Rosique thanked those responsible for the Decyde Forum for their initiative and recalled that throughout its more than 25 years of history ‘UCAM has been an example of management of change and sport has been essential to this. Our founder, José Luis Mendoza, loved sports and that is why he stamped his values on our university’.
This edition will consist of three days spread over 2023, in which great athletes and personalities will participate in a speech from a motivational perspective.