Michael Sanchez's interview for SPORT EXPRESS 06.01.2012

- It’s my very first title of such kind – confessed Sanchez unexpectedly to SPORT-EXPRESS’ correspondent soon after receiving a valuable award from the head of The Volleyball Federation of Russia Stanislav Shevchenko – Our national championship in Cuba is never held in fact. And I’ve never played abroad before this season.

- You’re a half-russian, aren’t you? Or a Ukranian?

- I am a Russian. And I have a Russian passport. But I was born in Ukraine indeed – in Poltavskaya region. My father did military service in the Cuban army and was on military exercises in USSR. That’s when he met my mother, who originated from Leningrad*. Then dad went back to Cuba, and I lived with my mum in Leningrad for 3 years, after that I finally moved to Cuba, to my father.

- Generally, you are Michael Sanchez. Why then in all the minutes you’re formally listed with a double surname as Sanchez-Bozhulyov?

- Because in Cuba it’s like that – everyone have a double surname: a mother’s and a father’s, it’s a rule. Besides, I have even my patronymic**! So in the whole, I am Michael Robertovich Sanchez-Bozhulyov.

- By the way, your name is not usual for a Cuban. Why Michael, not Miguel?

- Because my father named me after a famous American singer Michael Jackson.

- Are your parents still together?

- No, they’ve split up long ago, when I was about 5 years old.

- How did you come in volleyball?

- By chance, I’d say. I started to play when I was 15 – very late for a professional. I tried a great number of sports before volleyball: I went in for basketball, athletics, swimming… I only got my first coach when I’d grown up – it was a former player of women’s national team of Cuba Christina Wood. The sports school was situated very far from town, somewhere in countryside… In order to be in training I had to go there for the whole week long and come home only on weekends. But I liked it. And very soon I was selected for Junior National team of Cuba, and soon after that to the main one. There I played with previous generation of Cuban stars, many of which escaped in 2001.

- Why didn’t you try sports number one in Cuba, baseball?

- Oh, I don’t like it at all! We’ve a very hot weather there in Cuba, and baseball players have to spend almost 4 hours in one match outside, and they hardly move!

- Just the other way round is Novosibirsk, where it’s sometimes -30 °C in winter…

- [laughs] Sure, it was hard to get used to Russian winter’s conditions. But it’s OK now, I got used to it. Besides, volleyball unlike baseball is played inside. And concerning everyday life, it’s even better for me to live in Siberia than in Cuba.

- When did you play for the national team the last time?

- Two years ago. The thing is, according to Cuban laws, the players of the national team can’t leave the country. And even after you stopped playing for the national team you have to wait two years before the federation allows you to sign a contract with a foreign club. That’s why I came to Lokomotiv only now. Can you imagine, I am 25 years old, and I never played in any club before!

- Was it difficult for you to come back to Russia?

- No, it was very easy!

- And what about the language barrier? Although you’ve lived several years after birth in Leningrad, your first language is still Spanish….

- Even when we lived in Cuba Mum used to speak Russian with me. Though, I always answered her in Spanish, and never learnt Russian on purpose. But when I came here with my national team to play with Russian clubs, I used to listen to Russian language and was recollecting it. So little by little I finally recollected it. I even needed no teacher – I’ve mastered Russian on my own.

- So, by coming to Lokomotiv you refused to play for Cuban national team?

- Yes. I refused, waited a two-year disqualification and came here. We all are “punished” like that.

- But theoretically, you could play for the national team of Russia on Olympic Games in London. The next year it’ll be three years since your last performance for the Cuban national team.

- [smiles] Well, it’s too early to dream about such things. Who knows, though… I’ve already got the passport, the only thing I need to do is to change my sports citizenship. So, why not?


(c) Антон СОЛОМИН (Anton Solomin, for SPORT EXPRESS)


*former name of St Petersburg
** in Russia - a second name added to the first one, formed from father's name

translated into English by _k-is-for-kate_

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