this RES project Sponsored by businessman Juan Roig’s Trinidad Alfonso Foundation (Foment d’Esportistes amb Reptes), this Friday presented the tenth edition of this program dedicated to supporting Valencian athletes with a figure. 140 scholarship holders In this 2022 season with 53 new faces.
The goal is to achieve this, as every year. olympic cycle success and get one grand delegation at the next Paris Gamesfor those who stay a little over two years.
These 140 athletes are divided into three categories that have existed since the beginning of the program: 37 of them are included in the «Elite» level and will receive benefits ranging from 12,000 to 16,000 euros; 43 in the “Promises” category ranging from 6,000 to 8,000; and 60 members of the youngest “Nursery” category, who will receive an allowance ranging from 2,000 to 3,000 depending on their results.
under the slogan “Valencian Revolution” This presentation was made at: The central track of L’Alqueria del Basket del Valencia BasketThe club, in which Roig is the largest shareholder, is in the tenth year of both the Foundation and the FER Project, in a year when the scholarships will represent an investment of one million euros to contribute from Roig’s assets.
In this decade, 1,126 scholarships have been awarded to athletes, with almost parity, 55% for men, 45% for women, and eighty FER Instructor fellowships were awarded, in this case a five-year program. It is estimated that the total investment Roig has allocated to the FER Project, which started with only seventeen athletes in 2013, in this decade is eight million Euros.
“We wanted to draw a certain parallel with the French Revolution, which was a very important historical event at the end of the eighteenth century, and the “Valencian Revolution,” which the Valencian sport had to live through against the 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games to be held in Paris,’ they explained from the FER Project.
Juan Miguel Gómez, head of the Trinidad Alfonso Foundation, evaluated 2021 for the asset and valued the return of popular athletes to the Valencia Half Marathon and Marathon, noting that these are the essence and spirit of these tests. “Of course, it’s important to get big brands to consolidate ourselves internationally, but the presence of passionate amateur athletes is almost or more relevant,” he added.
«When we look at the end of this year, we are going to 20,000 people in the Middle and 30,000 people in the Marathon.. And of course, we aim for the maximum in terms of brands. “We don’t stop dreaming of more records coming,” he said.
In addition, the President of the Foundation reiterated that one of the main objectives of the entity is to transform the Valencian Community into a Sports Community, which is a reference core at the national level.
“We have different strategies to realize this initiative, but undoubtedly one of the main strategies is to attract all kinds of tournaments to our region. A good example was 2021, the year the Community hosted. European Basket women’s basketball and the Women’s Handball World Cup. But we also collaborate on other major events,” he continued.
Finally, Gómez stated that the 2021 balance is positive and that they are satisfied with the results of the actions they initiated during the most difficult years of the pandemic.
“We have helped not to reflect the crisis in the massive quitting of sports by the youngest. “Federation licenses have not only decreased, they have grown,” he said.
In addition to most of the scholarship recipients, the event was attended by various presidents of the Spanish federations, along with Alejandro Blanco, president of the Spanish Olympic Committee, and Miguel Carballeda, president of the Spanish Paralympic Committee. Jorge Garbajosa (basketball), Raúl Chapado (athletics), Jesús Carballo (gymnastics), Francisco Blázquez (handball), Alfonso Feijoo (rugby) and Jesus Castellanos (taekwondo).
A delegation from Valencia Basket was also present and chaired by president Vicente Sol), representatives of Community football clubs such as Villarreal’s largest shareholder Fernando Roig, Levante president Quico Catalán and Valencia CF representative Miguel Ángel Bossio. and Federation Presidents.
great figures of Spanish and Valencian sports, for example Pau Gasol, Saúl Craviotto, Teresa Perales, Ray Zapata, Roberto Bautista, Carolina Marín, Carlos Soler, Pau Torres or Gideón Guardiolawere the protagonists of the event, among others, through congratulatory videos for his tenth birthday.