Since I was little I have liked to play sports, my father taught me to swim when I was 3 years old and I played soccer since I was 7, in August 2013 (9 years old) my parents took me to a summer camp in another city, in which different sports were taught and coaches might select you if you had the skills to perform said sport. Fortunately, I seemed to be talented in several sports and more than one coach wanted to recruit me. I had offers for volleyball, swimming, athletics, diving, and table tennis. I ended up choosing table tennis, because, before getting to know it professionally, I played it with my family as a hobby and I enjoyed trying to hit the little ball and send it to the other side of the table. When I got to know the sport a bit more professionally, I liked it even more, I discovered all the skills that it forces you to develop, the attention, reflexes, speed, and intelligence that is required, to be able to execute your gameplan at each stage of the match.
The catch was that my city had no competitive table tennis team, so if I wanted to properly train, I would have to move away from my family. So, I did, I moved with my grandma when I was 9 and attended a high-performance athlete school in Guadalajara, Jalisco.
Moving to a new city to practice a sport professionally was a difficult decision, and for years to come I only got to see my parents on the weekends, but I always liked the sport so much that I considered it was worth it, with the help of my teachers, psychologists, and coaches I were able to carry on. Eight months after entering the sport, I won my first national tournament, it gave me great satisfaction to achieve this in front of my parents, who accompanied me during the tournament. After that there was no turning back, the dream had begun, I was part of the national team throughout my childhood and teenage years and along came the ITTF Hopes program, China, Latin and Pan-American Youth Championships and now the senior team. All from an unexpected move away from home at 9 years old.
