Valentina Bejarano - Natación Artistica

Last June, Valentina Bejarano, a student from the 11th grade, participated as part of the National Artistic Swimming Team in the XXIV Central American and Caribbean Games in San Salvador. Valentina has been practicing this sport for 8 years and has been participating in international competitions as far back as 2015.

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Question: To begin with, how did you start off in the world of artistic swimming? What attracted you to it?

Valentina: My parents heard an ad on the radio. I didn’t know about artistic swimming or that we could participate here in Panama. I didn’t like it at first because there were many things I didn’t know how to do. But after practicing it for a while, I completely fell in love with the sport.

Question: I imagine that to do this at such a professional level, it requires a lot of time, so what does your day to day life consist of?

Valentina: After coming to school, I eat in the car on my way to the pool because most of the days I train at like 3:30. I return home pretty late, so I try to do most of my homework during the weekends.

Question: How do you find the balance between sports and school? What do you do in order to organize yourself?

Valentina: I try to see what we have due for the next week and try to do as much as I can during the weekend. If not, I try to finish everything on Mondays because we don’t have training on those days.

Question: What did you have to do to prepare for these games?

Valentina: First off, due to the magnitude of the games, we had to train more. So, usually we train from 3:30 or 4 p.m. to 7 p.m., but now we had to train from 3 p.m. to 8 p.m. from Tuesday to Friday. On Saturdays, I trained twice, from 6 to 8 and then from 11 to 2. It was very demanding physically and mentally as well, because I had a lot less time to do homework, and there were times I had to sleep very late with school work. I’d say that was one of the greatest things I had to overcome.

Question: How did this experience shape you? What did you take away from this?

Valentina: Overall, it was a very beautiful experience. Being blessed with the opportunity to represent Panama for the first time in artistic swimming in these games was truly amazing. I got to meet so many people I’ve admired for years—legends in artistic swimming. We got to talk, and I got to see them train. And it’s nice because you get to see they’re human as well; they get tired when they train, and sometimes they mess up behind the scenes, so seeing that is really motivating because it leaves you with that feeling of “They’re human as well,” and it is possible to reach that level.

Question: After this experience, what keeps you motivated to get better? What is your ultimate goal?

Valentina: It’s the same thing as previously said. Competitions like this really inspire and motivate you because you get to talk with other athletes as well, and you see that they have the same struggles, so it’s like, “Ok, so they’re going through this thing as well,” so if they can do it, we can do it. After seeing the level that is out there, it’s a huge motivation to keep training a lot harder to be able to reach that level.

Question: To close this off, what is your advice to kids in the school who also want to dedicate themselves to a sport the same way you do?

Valentina: Sports not only form you as athletes, but they also form you as people, so practicing a sport is something I recommend to everyone. It’s not always easy, but that doesn't mean that it’s not a good experience. It is beautiful because you get to dedicate yourself to something that you love, besides doing school. It’s not always easy, but you shouldn’t give up because, in the end, it’s something that is going to help you for the rest of your life, both as an athlete and as a person.