Rosario, Argentina, April 7, 2020 – Argentineans Julian Azaad, Nicolas Capogrosso, Leandro Aveiro and Bautista Amieva were among the beach volleyball players who were on the road when the coronavirus pandemic quickly escalated around the world last month. The South Americans, however, have managed to keep their training routines on track after their return home.
The four athletes, who form the country’s top men’s teams, were in Lima, Peru, competing on the South American Tour, where Azaad and Capogrosso took silver when the first measures to contain the spread of the virus were taken in Argentina. Those included a self-isolation period of two weeks for those arriving from international trips.
Azaad, Aveiro, Capogrosso and Amieva pose after a gym session at the ranch
As the four athletes would have had to stay away from their families anyway, they made the decision to remain together, in a place where they could remain active. Capogrosso’s family’s ranch just outside Rosario provided the perfect setting.
“It all started as a joke,” Azaad said in an interview to Argentinean website Clarin. “There was some uncertainty when we departed and we said kind of joking that we’d all be quarantined together and remain training when we were back. When we saw that we’d indeed have to be quarantined, we decided to take this path, especially because the Continental Cup Finals were still scheduled to happen in June and we couldn’t afford to stop training.”
Before the players returned from Lima, their coaching staff went to the ranch and made the preparations so it was ready to host them. They set up a volleyball court in a grass area of the property and used its garage to assemble a gym where the players could work out.
Their routine in the ranch includes training sessions – including some which are live streamed on Instagram – weightlifting and some house duties, such as cooking and cleaning.
“Our routines didn’t change a lot because our coaches made all the adjustments we needed to keep training,” said Aveiro, a bronze medallist at the 2014 Youth Olympics. “We have all we need in the gym and a court, even though it’s a different surface. It’s difficult to be isolated, but at the same time we’re happy that we’re managing to continue training, which is something most of the other players can’t do right now.”