He now runs, along with Laura Gomez, a very special high performance facility in Valencia, Spain. Judoka arrive from all over the world knowing they will be looked after there, regardless of their nationality. The only pre-requisites are hard work and respect.
The rules of engagement in competition, for the Valencia home team and its broader community, are also widely understood. Despite having a truly international and transitory training group, there is always a core team of club athletes who live and train there, whose personal coaches are Sugoi and Laura. This is their club and these judoka will never be sacrificed in competition due to the universality of their training space.
Surely this throws up all sorts of complications, issues of loyalty and resentment? This is complex, multi-layered management at the highest sporting level because the Valencia team have athletes on the World Judo Tour. Sugoi and Laura coach at world championships and the Olympic Games and so many judoka feel like part of the Valencia family even if they live thousands of miles away. How is it possible to coach against those you love?
“It’s not easy,” says Sugoi, “but in Valencia the flag is not important. If you work hard, I will help you, but in the competitions I stay one hundred percent with my athletes. I have to be able to separate these things. When they come back to us after these events, they understand, they know our rules and it’s ok.
I only coach in the chair with my athletes against others I work with when we are on the World Judo Tour. If it is a smaller competition, I stay away from the mat if my team member and one of our international visitors are fighting each other. Maybe I can be found outside with my coffee. I work with international people and I must respect them all.
The Dominican guys, for example, they have been with me for many years, more than a decade. It is difficult to coach against them; really they are my guys and I feel like I am their coach. It is complicated."
"Many people don’t understand that every day in Valencia we have different people training together. Often they are in the same weight category as others but in this way both will get better. If my own athlete and another from a different country meet in the final at a world championships, I will be the most happy of all. We must think about improving the level for all, not just for our own.”
For Sugoi, to only work with his own athletes would mean reducing the potential for improvement. With so many people coming from so many places, the opportunities to learn are frequent, constant even, and that is what Sugoi believes is the greatest advantage of such a place. Valencia is for all because its inherent educational underpinning is the whole point. “If you give 100% then your training helps everyone, not just you. All athletes from everywhere are helping anyone and everyone. If an athlete is here in Spain training towards a Pan-American championships, everyone on the mat will help them to be in the best shape they can be."
"As an athlete I was never worried about training with someone and then fighting against them. I always had confidence in myself no matter what and knew that our shared work could be the reason we both succeed.”
Sugoi Uriarte is in Astana with his Spanish judoka but all around the warm-up room are judoka who have spent time in Valencia. This enhances the community spirit and the overall feeling that judo is for all and that it is everyone’s responsibility, collectively, to ensure that everyone in our family has the opportunity to become the best version of themselves.