Palau-solità and PlegamansFour European Cups, four World Cups, 7 Leagues, 5 Cups… The list of trophies won by Anna Casarramona i Vivas (Manlleu, 1994) seems endless. For 18 seasons, she has become one of the best Catalan athletes, leading the wave that changed women’s roller hockey, and taking it to the brink of professionalization. Now she is retiring and will play her last matches with HC Palau, which has become a model club, with hundreds of boys and girls on wheels and a first-class locker room for the women’s first team where Anna receives ARA.
Is an athlete ready to retire?
— I am excited. Very excited. The truth is that I didn’t think it would be so hard, and I’ve been working on it emotionally. A lot of things have happened to me in my life, but now I’m afraid to put an end to my sports career. Because sport is something that makes me very happy. I am happy competing and now it’s time to put an end to it. It’s very difficult.
You talk about being scared. Until now you’ve never seemed like a scared athlete.
— No, nothing. I’ve always had this lifestyle of moving forward. And now it’s time for another lifestyle. I’ve always lived the weekend match with intensity and faced Monday thinking about preparing the next one. Now we’ll have to look for other illusions and motivations.
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If it weren’t for this pain that a hernia causes you, would you continue competing?
— I think so, but not much. Maybe one more year, two at the most. I had surgery for a hernia three years ago and I already considered quitting hockey. A physical trainer I had told me not to make any decisions during the recovery process. That I should decide after I recovered. And it was the right decision. I recovered, the offer from Palau came and I was very excited. These last few years have been a gift, but the pain in my left leg has returned, in my toes, I have trouble moving them and my leg is a bit numb. And add to that that sports force you into a very draining lifestyle. I work as a physical education teacher in Vic, I’m an ESO tutor and I coach. And the pace of the League is getting faster and faster. The teams are becoming more and more professional and to give 100% you need to dedicate yourself to it fully. I’m already at an age and I’m at another point. I’m doing my body a favor by putting an end to a career with so many joys.
In hockey it’s normal to see players with good careers leave young. Has it been strange to see players younger than you leave?
— It’s strange, but that’s what happens when you have to juggle work and sport. And we’re not a professional sport. You have to travel, ask for favors at work… It’s complicated and very draining. You need to have a lot of enthusiasm, motivation, and energy to keep going.
Your story begins in Manlleu. Why did you decide to play a sport that few girls practiced back then?
— I was the first girl, there wasn’t any. I signed up because my cousin was doing it. He signed up and I said I would too. My parents came from the world of basketball and my choice surprised them. I played with a mixed team where I was the only girl until I was 15 years old. After that I signed for Voltregà, where the first year I played with a mixed youth team and then I made the jump to the first team where it was full of the players who were my role models: Natasha Lee, Carla Giudici or Mocha, Cristina Barceló. Carla was paving the way, they hadn’t let her play in the boys’ league. They were women who broke the mold.
Your case also broke the mold in Manlleu.
— A women’s team was formed where players who were already older signed up. My sister and lifelong friends went around the schoolyards asking who wanted to join. My father coached them. And since we had no idea… they trained under the stairs of the pavilion, in a small space. I went, I helped.
You signed for Gijón, a club that has always been said to pay more, and you had an experience outside of Catalonia.
— I did it to see the world, to learn, because the club paid for my apartment and what was necessary to make ends meet, you didn’t save anything at all. But my partner was already playing in Gijón and could do the teacher training master’s degree in Oviedo. Many things came together. So I left my parents’ house and had a very beautiful experience.
Throughout your career, the League has evolved a lot. Faster, better prepared. How have you adapted to keep up with the pace?
— Training a lot. But now I can’t keep up this pace. I should dedicate myself exclusively and quit my job. And I can’t. Now all teams have physical trainers. Gym work is done, more training… and some clubs can now do four training sessions a week, before two or three were done.
Wouldn’t you have liked to be born later to be able to enjoy a better organized league now?
— It wouldn’t have been bad (smiles). No, I feel happy about what I’ve experienced. I’m very happy to have followed Carla’s, Laia’s, Tasha’s… path. We’ve kept playing because we like it. This connects us to the meaning of life. Doing things out of enthusiasm, motivation. The relationships we’ve formed in the locker rooms are very healthy and very good. And it’s because we genuinely like playing, we don’t do it for money.
The Palau has a good pavilion, but many clubs complain about problems with the facilities.
— Resources should be allocated to spaces where people play sports. We cannot limit ourselves to just football or major events. There are many places where sport builds community, where positive role models emerge.
Do you feel like a benchmark?
— Now yes, a little bit because I am a veteran.
How many players can be professionals nowadays?
— Perhaps Vila-sana, Fraga or Gijón may be more or less so. But we still have a lot of work to do. We have improved a lot, but there is still work to be done. In teams where there is a very large sponsor who puts in money, they are lucky. It doesn’t always happen.
What milestones do you remember from your career?
— With the national team we won the World Cup held in Iquique, Chile, in 2016. It was special because in the previous tournament in France they thought we would win and we came ninth. Argentina thrashed us 7-1. I don’t forget it, I have every match very present. So being able to eliminate the Argentinians in Chile was special, we had done a lot of work. At club level, I’ll keep the Cup won in La Coruña with Manlleu, it cost us a lot. We always lost against Palau and the final was precisely that. Being able to win with the club from my town when I had a sick aunt was nice. Of memories… whatever you want. The first Cup with Palau, a title that never came, a European Cup with Gijón against Benfica… I remember it all, including the defeats, as they allow you to improve. The capacity for self-improvement that sport has taught me is something I take with me.
Won’t you still be tied to hockey?
— I don’t know, it’s the question everyone asks me. A referee the other day told me: “Go and referee!” A mother I met told me: “Go and be a coordinator!” Others say I should train. I’ll consider it. Now I have to accept that I won’t be a player and I think this will be difficult for me. I’ll listen to myself. I’ll try to go cycling, see the people I love, go to watch matches… I’ll see what I’ll do.
