A wheelchair and a sailing boat to get to port

Diego was 12 when he helped his father build a fibreglass canoe and they paddled together through the Galician landscapes. Years later he was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. It was precisely in the physiotherapy clinic that he saw an advertisement for the ESFUERZA programme, run by the María José Jove Foundation, which promotes social integration through adapted sport, with the support of the ”la Caixa” Foundation. Thanks to this programme, Diego fell in love with sailing.

When he talks about sailing, Diego’s eyes light up and he shows his best rhetorical skills: “It makes you realise how powerful the sea is, that it can give you absolute peace or roar loudly to force you to find your limits. It’s as cruel and dangerous as it is sweet and beautiful.” When you sail, you have to watch it with the respect it deserves, but at the same time you can’t help but admire it. “You watch it, you respect it, you enjoy it and you admire it.” In any case, he concludes, at sea it’s “impossible to be unhappy when it makes you forget everything you lost, everything you’re missing, and nonetheless arrive in port.”

At the María José Jove Foundation (FMJJ) they are well aware of the power not only of the sea, but also of water sports for all those who have some kind of disability.

This Foundation was created in 2003 in memory of the woman after whom it is named, María José Jove, and in keeping with the values that guided her and to which she dedicated a large part of her life before her sudden death in 2002. Since then, the Foundation has developed its commitment to children and social inclusion.

During this time, it has reached more than 65,000 people and its areas of action include the arts, education, health and sport. It is in the latter area that the ESFUERZA programme is particularly important, created in A Coruña in 2007 with the help of the ”la Caixa” Foundation, whose Calls for Social Projects programme supports more than a thousand projects every year.

The ESFUERZA programme, which is basically aimed at people who have functional diversity with a degree of disability of 33% or more, is a benchmark in Spain and is dedicated to sport as an activity for a healthy life, but above all as a tool for inclusion.

Through adapted sport in a recreational framework, it improves physical condition and generates healthy habits, as well as improving participants’ social relationships and their self-esteem. It takes place throughout the year with activities such as “Inclusive sailing”, “Inclusive canoeing”, “Live fishing” and “Physical conditioning” (Rialta Residence). In addition, in the summer, the beach assistance service is included (Oza beach, A Coruña).

Diego Saavedra Trasancos, 49, discovered the benefits of ESFUERZA many years ago, almost as many as the programme itself. He had just been diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, and at the physiotherapist’s office he saw an advertisement from the association inviting him to try water sports.

As a 12-year-old boy, Diego had helped his father build a fibreglass canoe and over the following summers father and son spent many hours paddling through the landscapes of Galicia. Faced with this new opportunity, Diego did not think twice about starting adapted canoeing lessons, although from the very first moment he wanted to try the sport he now says he is addicted to: sailing.

“At the beginning, my colleagues laughed at me because I thought the boats started the regattas at a standstill, as if they were Formula 1 cars.” Now that time has passed, Diego has mastered the art of sailing perfectly and has participated in various events, such as the Adapted Sella River Descent with the FMJJ, the ESFUERZA White Week in San Isidro and several editions of the ESFUERZA Nautical Open.

Beyond the adrenaline of the competitions – Diego refers to them as “regattas among colleagues” – he knows that the values of the sport lie elsewhere. “All the instructors I’ve had have been great to me and have helped me in the adaptation process. When I started sailing I could walk on the boat, albeit with difficulty, and now I’m in a wheelchair. Throughout the whole process they’ve been there, they’ve had my back.”

These events are also a chance for Diego and his colleagues to get together. “On these excursions we meet a lot of people from the area and we all get to know each other. I met some of them when they were just kids and now they’ve grown up into big men.” All of them, young and old, are part of the great ESFUERZA family.

Diego’s story is part of the documentary project Life stories, 14 stories of overcoming adversity which gives a voice to people at risk of exclusion who share their experiences in order to raise public awareness.