Established as a center of excellence for the red-and-black Olympic sport, CUIDAR celebrated its fifth anniversary last Friday (22). Launched in 2016, the project is essential for treating and preventing injuries among the more than 800 athletes in the nine sports at Gávea, ensuring the physical and mental well-being of those who defend the Sacred Mantle. Socially, it is important to emphasize that CUIDAR serves the 46% of red-and-black fans who come from vulnerable areas, in addition to the 62% who do not have health insurance and are served directly by the project's professionals.

In charge of the program, called the Unified Center for Development and Identification of Performance Athletes, Sports Science Manager Izabel Miranda recalled the club's scenario when the center was founded.

"At the time, we had 17 professionals, each in a different area. Basketball was very well-established, with a well-rounded multidisciplinary team: physiotherapists at the base and the front, physical trainers in both, and Dr. Cardone, a physician. And then CUIDAR arrived with an architectural project, derived from my master's degree, aimed at preventing injuries and overtraining," Izabel recalled, adding. "This can only be done in a multidisciplinary manner, with this organized exchange of knowledge among the group members to best serve the athlete and provide essential support for the coaching staff and decision-making."

From just under 20 initial members, CUIDAR has grown to double the number of professionals in various areas of sports science.

"We knew this would all take a while, but today we have over 30 professionals, not including emergency care. After five years, our team is fully established, and is consistently considered by the COB and other clubs, and invited to speak at symposiums about the project," explained the manager. "It's a really cool thing we're taking advantage of today. I see we have a very well-assembled team; we know that, much more important than the construction of a facility itself, are the people who work there. Today, we can say that we have the CUIDAR team working together to improve athlete health, prevention, and performance."