The specialist in high performance and sports sciences, Lorena Torres (Ibiza, 1981), was the star of the colloquium held last night at the Club Diario, with the sponsorship of the Consell de Ibiza, due to her time with the NBA and recent incorporation into to the Spanish Basketball Federation. After spending five years in the biomedical departments of the Spurs and the Sixers, the Ibicena has been commissioned to improve the performance of the Spanish men’s team for the next Tokyo Games.
Lorena Torres and the journalist Paco Murillo, yesterday at the colloquium held at the Club Diario. | JUAN A. RIERA
«When you are an unpaid professional athlete, they are sacrifices that do not hurt »
Before answering the questions of the journalist Paco Murillo, host of the event, Lorena Torres recounted her first steps in rhythmic gymnastics and synchronized swimming, the latter discipline in which she became the junior European champion. A “hard and sacrificial” training that served to lay the foundations of her character and determination in the world of sports science.
The physical trainer, during her interview. | JARIERA
«We advise athletes to make the best decisions and educate them in nutrition and recovery »
Torres gave up a promising career in the water as a professional athlete – albeit unpaid, that she discribes as “sacrifices that don’t hurt” – to focus on university studies in Barcelona. After graduating in Sports Sciences and Physical Activity, Torres joined the CAR of Sant Cugat where she worked in different modalities such as tennis and golf, a sport with which she confesses she learned a lot “about rehabilitation and prevention of injuries.” «It was my first professional experience. There I knew that what I wanted to do was high performance sports”, she explained to the audience, among whom ex-teammates such as Javi Bonet, insular director of Sports, or Paco Vázquez, former player and professional basketball coach, stood out.
Lorena Torres’s parents attended the event. | J.A. RIERA
«In the US I had to break many barriers, but if you are good and you are worth it, they value it »
Her doctoral thesis, the university environment and her ambition to learn new diciplines allowed her to work with the FC Barcelona basketball squad, a position she combined with the national synchronized swimming team. Little by little she entered the circles of international researchers and, thanks to one of her colleagues, the opportunity to join the NBA arrived.
For the full article, please visit Diario de Ibiza website here.