Josué Heliodoro comments on his first experience with the Brazilian Artistic Gymnastics Team
Rubro-negro was called up to the training camp along with other athletes from the youth team
By Romulo Paranhos - inThe red-and-black artistic gymnastics team has always been a breeding ground for great talent for the Brazilian National Team. In addition to providing numerous athletes to the women's national team, starting this season, the "Mais Querido" will once again have a representative on the men's squad. For the first time, Josué Heliodoro was called up to participate in the Brazilian Gymnastics Confederation (CBG) training camp along with the other athletes from the Brazilian youth categories. In total, 17 gymnasts from the Adult and Youth categories gathered at the Time Brasil Training Center in the Barra da Tijuca Olympic Park for training, physical evaluations, and educational lectures.
A red-and-black revelation in the sport, Josué Heliodoro commented on his first call-up to the Brazilian Youth team.
"I was very happy when I received the news that I had been called up, as it has always been my dream to be part of the national team. At first, I thought I would have some difficulty adapting, but I dedicated myself completely to training and everything went well. My goal now is to do my best to be able to participate in a camp in Germany, which is a preparatory event for the World Youth Championship, where I really want to be," said the red-and-black player, who added about the contact he had with more experienced athletes.
"It was really cool. When I arrived at the training center, all my idols were there: Diego Hypólito, Arthur Zanetti, Francisco Barreto, and others. In fact, I always try to look to adults for role models, trying to reach their level, and I believe that little by little, I'll achieve that," Josué concluded.
Roberto Nassar, coach of the red-black team and the Brazilian Youth Team, assessed the importance of the camp for the gymnasts.
"At this training camp, organized by the CBG, we worked on all aspects of the gymnasts' strength and technique, in addition to six lectures covering harassment and physical aggression against athletes, biomechanics, and preventative medicine. At the end of these ten days, Marcos Goto, the national team's technical coordinator, was able to evaluate the six junior gymnasts who are pre-selected to compete in a friendly tournament in Germany in March and the Junior World Championships in Hungary in June," said Roberto.
The artistic gymnastics teams of Clube de Regatas do Flamengo rely on resources from their sponsors – AmBev, Rede D'or – via the Federal Incentive Law/Ministry of Sports (IR), in addition to support from the Brazilian Committee of Clubs (CBC) resulting from the decentralization of resources.