Pitch Letter

Mr. Editor,

    A couple of months ago Santiago hosted for the first time ever the ODESUR games (Olympic games of the south), and I personally was fortunate enough to watch the swimming competition in the new aquatic center that was built in Estadio Nacional. For the first time in all of my life, and I say this as someone who has spent half of it swimming laps, I saw a pool filled to the brim with people cheering for their team, or at least the particularly famous member of the team. Even though, I was shocked by the ignorance of the people when it came to the sport, even in the news several mistakes were made by people who were supposedly well informed about it and were paid to share useful insight with those who maybe didn’t know as much.  

    This is the reason why I want to write this article, so that people learn about a sport other than football. At the same time, I want to show the hardships of the life of a high competition athlete, it is never easy to choose this path. I plan on showing this mostly through interviews with members of the new generation of chilean swimmers, those who are just beginning their journey into professional sports and can still hope for greatness, focusing particularly on the members in the national team for the past ODESUR and those who were forced to leave the country in search of better conditions. In the end, what I wish to do is to set an example through this particular sport and open the door for a more open and varied coverage of sports in Chile.

Thank you for your attention.

Sincerely,

Josefina Sandoval