By: Tom\u00e1s Pires de Lima<\/p>\n
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Since I\u2019m 5 years old I\u2019ve been going to Viana to watch my dad kiting and to learn from him. It\u2019s a place I\u2019ve always enjoyed, I could be in the ocean doing what I love \u2013 Kitesurfing.<\/p>\n
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Throughout the years I\u2019ve gotten more into sailing because I could do It closer to home on the weekends and weekdays and little by little I\u2019ve disconnected from Kiting. Sailing is a big part of my life and I\u2019m very thankful to have done it at a professional level achieving some top results such as 4 podiums in European and World Championships.<\/p>\n
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I still maintained a healthy habit of kiting every summer but unfortunately it was only when I had time off from sailing competitions.<\/p>\n
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It all changed in 2021 – Kitesurfing got into the Olympics for 2024 as one of the sailing categories in the form of Formula Kite Racing.<\/p>\n
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I made a quick decision to learn how to Kitefoil in record time and set a goal on my mind \u2013 qualify for the Olympic Games. I knew the racing on the kite would be a big challenge for me because my kiting level was not high enough, but I was confident my sailing experience was going to help me get through it.<\/p>\n
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Fast forward to June 2024. I didn\u2019t manage to qualify for the Olympics. I knew the 3 short years of preparation I had were going to make it hard for me. But it wasn\u2019t everything bad news. I managed to get into the top 35 of the World out of hundreds (only 20 go to the Olympics), and every competition I made steady progress.<\/p>\n
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\u00a0The prospect of qualifying for the next Olympic Games is realistic and I have a strong experience platform to work on. Plus, I helped my sister achieve her dream of qualifying for the Games.<\/p>\n
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Being out of the Olympics meant I was going to have a free summer and needed to work to afford new equipment for the next season.<\/p>\n
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\u00a0Since 2021 Viana had become my \u201chome spot\u201d because it was close enough from where I live, and it offered amazing conditions to progress in lighter breeze in the morning or in the strong winds of the afternoon.<\/p>\n
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The beach, nature around it and the \u201chome\u201d vibes I get from the city made it an obvious decision to stay in Viana for the summer and try to get a job there.<\/p>\n
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I decided I wanted to work as a Kite Instructor for the summer because this allowed me to still train in my free time. So, I started texting every kite school in the area. It was June and the season had already started, no one was looking for instructors anymore.<\/p>\n
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A few weeks later Carlos (Modo Experto Owner) texted me saying he was looking for someone to work as a Kite Instructor at his school. I obviously said yes, and we arranged a meeting.<\/p>\n
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I met Carlos through my older brother Salvador who is a Kite Instructor a few years ago. I didn\u2019t know a lot about him or his school, but I\u2019ve always noticed how happy everyone seemed around there.<\/p>\n
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So, I went to this meeting. I was nervous, it was my first job. I arrived at the coffee shop and saw Carlos, first thing he did was hugging me and asking how me and my family was doing. It made me feel welcome and calmer.<\/p>\n
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Carlos showed me a completely different perspective on life and water sports industry in general. He\u2019s an easy-going person, always with a smile on his face and ready to help the next. He demonstrated that there is no \u201cmy school\u201d but a \u201cour school\u201d and that all of us involved in Modo Experto were equal.<\/p>\n
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From the first minute I thought \u201cthis is where I need to be\u201d. The hug and \u201cWelcome to the Family\u201d will always stay engraved in my head.<\/p>\n
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Fast forward to September<\/p>\n
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Summer season is over. I was able to achieve the goals I had at the beginning of the summer, I worked a lot and trained a lot.<\/p>\n
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But I achieved things I wasn\u2019t expecting to. Thanks to my Modo Experto Family I\u2019ve learned new skills in Kiting and Wing Foiling, I\u2019ve improved my teaching skills, worked on my French but above all I have learned that to receive we have to give first and I\u2019ve learned how to dream. To dream bigger than ever before.<\/p>\n
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Carlos, Licha, Franco, Gonza, Julie. This team has motivated me throughout all summer to keep pushing on my trainings and supporting me even on the more tiring days.<\/p>\n
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This experience has been fulfilling, I\u2019ve met so many new faces and with each single one of them I have learned something. Thanks to Modo Experto I am a more complete athlete, professional and person.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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Obrigado Fam\u00edlia!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
By: Tom\u00e1s Pires de Lima \u00a0 Since I\u2019m 5 years old I\u2019ve been going to Viana to watch my dad kiting and to learn from him. It\u2019s a place I\u2019ve always enjoyed, I could be in the ocean doing what I love \u2013 Kitesurfing. \u00a0 Throughout the years I\u2019ve gotten more into sailing because I […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":572,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-423","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/modoexpertoschool.com\/pt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/423","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/modoexpertoschool.com\/pt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/modoexpertoschool.com\/pt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/modoexpertoschool.com\/pt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/modoexpertoschool.com\/pt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=423"}],"version-history":[{"count":16,"href":"https:\/\/modoexpertoschool.com\/pt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/423\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1163,"href":"https:\/\/modoexpertoschool.com\/pt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/423\/revisions\/1163"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/modoexpertoschool.com\/pt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/572"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/modoexpertoschool.com\/pt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=423"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/modoexpertoschool.com\/pt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=423"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/modoexpertoschool.com\/pt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=423"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}