JC: Why do you love windsurfing?
DAIDA: It is really hard to explain if you don’t windsurf. Windsurfing keeps my heart alive and it helps to clean my soul. I dream about windsurfing every day!
IBALLA: Because it is the sport that helped me grow as a person and as an athlete. I love that it is always related to the sea, the wind and the waves. It was always my dream since I was really young to become a professional windsurfer and at the moment I am lucky to say that I am living my dream.
JC: Are you more comfortable in the water than on land ?
DAIDA: Definitively, there are days when it is better to disappear on the high seas, leave the stress and daily problems behind and enjoy the freedom and sensations that you only get from the wind and the sea.
IBALLA: The sea has given me everything. I feel better and more comfortable in the water, that is a reality.
JC: Do you remember your first time windsurfing?
DAIDA: (Laughter) I remember perfectly the first time I tried to windsurf and it was very frustrating. I thought I would be better at it, that it was going to be much easier. We didn’t have anyone to tell us what to do. We started windsurfing with a broken board that someone was going to throw away, that was the moment that we started the adventure of our lives. We learned from many falls and hits. Today everything is easier, you can learn in the proper school, with qualified teachers and the appropriate materials which are light and safe. Even so, I would never change my experience.
IBALLA: Of course I remember. Since we were very young our father put us in the sea. Then we just evolved to bodyboards, later the surf board and finally windsurfing. Every sport gave us different sensations but all had something in common: the sea.
JC: Did you ever imagine that that day was going to be the start of an incredible career?
DAIDA: I started sailing one year before starting university. In the second year of my course (MBA) I decided to dedicate myself 100% to windsurfing. Obviously I never imagined that I would get so far, we just simply took advantage of the opportunities that life gave us. I am currently finishing my degree in Physiotherapy and sailing in the afternoons. If I look back I will live every single day in the same way that I have lived until today.
IBALLA: I remember the day that I came back from the university and told my parents….Daida also decided the same thing. We were lucky that our parents supported us in that decision and it is something that I will never regret. It was a shame that at the time the teachers did not support sportsmen/sportswomen as they do today (it seems that they help more nowadays) as I had to leave University to face the University of Life.
JC : You have been competing at the highest level for years, don’t you get bored?
DAIDA: I have always said that top-level competition has its good and bad sides. The ideal world would be to live from windsurfing, without having to compete, avoiding many expenses such as economic, physical or psychic…even doctors say that high level competitions are counterproductive to one’s health. The problem is that if you do not compete you won’t have the publicity and in turn, the support of your sponsors; so it is a vicious circle. To date we are achieving our goals, we compete and can still afford to travel and enjoy our work, our office is located in the sea, how could you be bored ?
IBALLA: In order to be at the top you have to focus on challenges and targets at short and long terms. There are always ups and downs but you always have to move forward. There are still many places to discover and to visit. The competitions are a very important part of this sport, however, it is not the only way to move forward.
JC: How do you combine top-level competition with an ordinary lifestyle?
DAIDA: I have always believed the lifestyle of top-level sportsmen/sportswomen is very complicated even if people always tend to think differently. Windsurfing requires a lot of work and effort, there are days that I just simply do not know how I have got through them, and other days that I can’t even say what day of the week it is. I try to organize myself between university, physio practice, training and my job. Without doubt, the best moment of the day is when I put on my wetsuit and I get into the water.
IBALLA: Competition is a small part, although very important one of our lifestyle as sportswomen. The rest of the time that we are not competing we are training and looking for new targets. That is my ordinary lifestyle. Always looking at aiming for new challenges, training and enjoying what we do.