Ricky Rubio, 34, is still in stand byworried more about his family and his mental health than about the orange ball, since over time he has learned to prioritize himself. “I try to train every day, I’m fine,” he explained this Tuesday at the La Plana Municipal Pavilion in Badalona and at an event The Ricky Rubio Foundation in which he presented several workshops within LungFitwhich is the project of his foundation to improve the quality of life of lung cancer patients, in addition to raising awareness among all actors, from oncologists to patients, including gyms and pharmaceutical companies, of the need to prescribe exercise for improve your physical and emotional state. He may or may not play again, but that, Ricky says, is not the most important thing.
The point guard, who trained at Joventut and catapulted in Barcelona to reach the NBA and the Spanish national team, decided to leave basketball a couple of years ago, put his feet on the ground and look after his mental health, all time that his head said enough because “he went to a very dark place”, because he did not understand what was happening to him. He did not name his illness, whether it was depression or something else. He simply said goodbye. Taking refuge with a sports psychologist and working on himself, getting to know himself and, as he announced, learning to draw in gray because not everything is black or white, Ricky’s desire to shoot baskets, to share a locker room, returned. That’s why he signed for Barcelona in the middle of the previous season. But the experience did not satisfy him. “Playing for Barça means the extra pressure of always having to win. That and the fact that it took many minutes by car to get to the Ciudad Deportiva or the Palau – since he lives in Masnou – were important obstacles because he has become a father again and does not want to miss fatherhood as happened with the first one, when he was in the NBA between trip and trip,” they explain from Rubio’s entourage.
For this reason, Ricky decided not to go with the Spanish team to the pre-Olympic, nor did he accept Barça’s renewal offer or the option that Joventut gave him to return home. “My body asks me to continue as I am, to enjoy fatherhood. Go day by day. Empty a little the glass that was very full. I’m learning to know how to stop, which is something I haven’t done in many years, and how to listen to yourself. There are so many voices that you have inside here that in the end you don’t know what you want or who you are,” he resolved. And he added: “There are times when stopping seems to mean that everything is going to end and in reality life goes on. Everything happens and it’s how you approach it. “I want to have a solid foundation before starting again.”
Meanwhile, Ricky focuses on his family and his projects. “When I played, I already had the Foundation, but now that I have more time I dedicate more hours to it. It fills me, it is something that will be, the day I retire, one of the jobs or the job I will have. For me it is not an obligation, it is a place where I feel useful,” he slipped. And he reflected again on the ball and his life: “When you are an elite athlete, everything goes very fast and everything is magnified. You give importance to objectives and results, but it is still a sport. Yes, you can transmit values, yes, you can be involved and cross barriers, but in the end there are things in life that matter more.” Like, mind you, fatherhood. “Now I can really enjoy my daughter, something that didn’t happen with my first child because on the second day I was already traveling.” About basketball, you’ll say.
