Ana Maria Brânză (41 years old) was once again present at Sports Talks, during the Sports Festival, and had a motivational message related to the role of sports, the attitude people should have towards children who practice sports. She also revealed the tattoo she got and why she chose it.
Ana Maria Brânză is a constant presence at the Sports Festival in Cluj-Napoca, coming almost every year to the festival, either as a guest at Sports Talks or as a representative of the Romanian Olympic and Sports Committee.
Bright and approachable, she divides her time between children who are curious to learn more about Olympic values and attending Sports Talks, where she supports the guests, encourages them and tries to instill confidence in them.
Ana Maria Brânza, at the Sports Festival: “We get on with life and forget to be children anymore”
After he was with them Bernadette Szocs, Carmen AmarieiMarius Urzică, Andrei Novițchi and Adrian Văncicăit was Ana Maria's turn to go up on the stage located near the Radisson Blu hotel for an interview with the journalist and philosopher Mihnea Măruță.
“I'm simply happy to see the joy of the little ones who are here. What I find interesting and I see this every year is that more and more adults become children at the festival. And we sometimes forget, we get on with our lives. Isn't that right, dear adults? We get on with our lives and forget to be children. So the Sports Festival is a very good reason to play”, the former fencer began her speech, setting the tone of the dialogue from the very beginning.
Excellence, friendship and respect are Olympic values, but also universalwhich she and her colleagues aim to promote on the street near BTarena and Cluj Arena, which was transformed into a playground this weekend.
Beyond, however, the activity within the Sports Festival, Ana Maria Brânză tries to be a mentor for the new generations of athletes and take advantage of her experience to pass on.
“Starting with communication. There are many athletes who have extraordinary stories, but who do not have this practice of speaking in public, of speaking in front of the camera, which is essential. Because the moment you put on that tracksuit top with Romania and climb the podium, you have a personal brand”, explains the multiple Olympic, world and European medalist.
“This year, through a grant offered by Olympic Solidarity, we had the opportunity to gather 100 juniors between the ages of 16 and 19, from 18 Olympic disciplines, and we made this first athletes' forum. The feedback was great. They needed someone to be there for them and show them how it's done,” continues Ana Maria.
Ana Maria Brânza, about the exposure of athletes on social media: “The message they send could be diluted”
One of the topics addressed is related to social media and how to behave on social networks. “If they expose themselves in a way that isn't healthy, then the message they're sending might get diluted, stop being about performance, stop being inspirational“, argues Brânza. “Because, in essence, you know that all champions are nothing more than children who had the courage to dream and who worked for their dream until they achieved it.”
Over the last few years, in the work she has carried out, Ana Maria Brânza has come to the conclusion that juniors need a sense of belonging and adults to be around them and support them.
“No offense lady, but have you always had the support of the adults in your life?“, is one of the questions that the former athlete receives.
Ana Maria Brânză is, indeed, among the athletes who had, first of all, the support of her parents, who gave her the most beautiful gift – the fact that they let her go to Craiova at the age of 13.
“Very late in my life I asked them what they felt then. But when a child has a dream, such a strong dream, it's worth it,” says the Olympic champion from Rio de Janeiro.
In addition to her parents, she also had the support of coach Dan Podeanu, whom he calls “the creator of athlete Ana Maria Brânza”.
Ana Maria Brânza: “I would recommend you to live a little bit every day”
At the same time, Ana sent a warning about the other extreme, where parents or grandparents are so supportive of their children that they take them to a lot of sports and activities.
“With us, the job lasts 8 hours a day and they end up having activities 10-12 hours a day. The children still have to live. Look, it happened to me at one point to take life and then I wrote here, on my hand, “live”“, says Brânza. “And I would recommend that you also live a little bit every day and let the little ones live a little bit,” she adds.
At the end, Ana Maria Brânza gave a recommendation to the Romanian athletes.
To take the first step. That's the most important thing. That first step that every child can take. I think it would be interesting to look at a statistic and see how many kids from this festival end up playing a sport.
Maybe at some point, after several editions, we will have the first Olympic champion to discover his sport at the Sports Festival. That would be great
– Ana Maria Brânza
