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Who has never said to themselves “Am I able to face this?”, “Do I have the strength to accomplish this task?” or “Can I complete complete this goal?”
We have all at some point or another been in this situation, doubted ourselves or been afraid to fail, but how do we know what we can really do without getting out there and giving it a go.
Marcos Gonzáles de la Pena is living proof of this very doctrine and huge inspiration in the department of will and determination. “It is essential to discover our talents and skills because we do not know what we’re capable of being until we know what we are capable of doing.”
So if you still doubt your skills and you sometimes hesitate before taking on a new challenge, it is time for you to learn about just who we are talking about, who without a doubt will inspire you to become the main actor in the story of your life.
KSm: Hi Marco, we still haven’t really introduced you to our readers so we will let you do it yourself. Can you tell us a little bit more about you.
Marcos: My name is Marcos González de la Peña. I live in a village located in the south of Spain named Tarifa, close to the Gibraltar Strait. It is a wonderful place because of its landscapes, culture and especially because it allows me to be in continuous contact with the ocean and nature. I work as a physical education teacher which permits me to combine my work with one of my major passions in life, kitesurfing.
KSm: At 9 years old you had an accident, can you tell us how this happened and what this mean’t to a little boy of 9 years old when he just realised that his life would never be the same again?
Marcos: I had an accident at school while I was playing with my friends on a roundabout. My life was really in a lot of danger but in the end everything turned out alright.
To be honest I do not think that I really thought about what had actually happened. I simply accepted it in a natural way and I all I could be was who I was at that moment a child. I just wanted to continue playing, dreaming and laughing. I think I owe this attitude to my family who always continued to treat me very much as normal.
KSm: You did a lot of competition swimming and were amongst the best swimmers in Europe. How hard was this pinnacle of achievement to reach and which kind of difficulties did you encounter and have to overcome?
Marcos: Competition level sports requires a lot of sacrifices such as the long hard training, losing out on time to spend with family and friends, etc. But to be honest the biggest difficulties I had to deal with were those related to institutional issues such as lack of financial support and motivation for young talented athletes. In general, I think it is often not so much about the people, but more about the results in this side of things.
KSm: You seem to like the ocean and beach and you are also a big fan of extreme sports… so we guess that your motivation to get into kitesurfing was a natural evolution for you?
Marcos: I’ve always loved the water and I’ve always had a healthy interest in those sports which imply a certain element of risk. Throughout my life I have found circumstances and people who have given me the possibility to try new sports.
In my university career alpine skiing, then later climbing, then snowboarding and surfing with my friends. In respect of kitesurfing, one day I saw it on the beach together with my father and I told him that some day I would end up doing that. Not too long later I went to Tarifa to realise this dreams.
KSm: You wear a orthopaedic prosthesis especially created for practicing extreme sports however we guess that it took some times for you to get used to it… how did you go about your training and advancement of kitesurfing with it?
Marcos: At the beginning, I didn’t have any prosthesis and I just learned to ride sitting on the board. Not too long afterwards while I was searching on internet I discovered a specific prosthesis for extreme sports and that day I was very happy. I travelled to Portland (USA) to check how it was working and then not long afterwards I bought one in Spain.
The adaptation process was not very complex but what I found harder for me were some situations that every person learning kitesurfing encounters such as walking on the beach when I couldn’t go upwind yet. I remember the day that I stood up on the board as one of the happiest days of my life. I had a complete feeling of freedom.
KSm: You are a team rider for F-ONE as well as a kite instructor and a sports teacher… clearly you like share your knowledge and help others. What motivations do you have for teaching and which kind of projects do you have going on right now and planned for the future?
Marcos: I am currently sponsored by F-ONE in Spain and I am very grateful for the opportunity that they have given me. Sebastián Ducos backed me since the beginning and he is in part responsible for helping me to realise my dreams. I would also like to give thanks to Quirofisio Franquicias and DRS Estudio for the support they give to me.
I am always motivated to teach to those students who incorporate a healthy style to their lives as well as transmitting the values required to be a good person. In many occasions I find that they do not know what to do with their lives and one of my motivations is to teach them to have curiosities, milestones, dreams and to make the efforts help them to achieve these. I am a witness on a daily basis of the huge potential that youngsters have. They only need to learn to channel their potential.
I am currently carrying out several projects and I never stop thinking about and creating new ones. One of them is called LEVANTARSE CON EL PIE IZQUIERDO (it means “getting up on the wrong side of the bed”) and consists of giving talks in schools, universities and companies to motivate people to fight to achieve their milestones and dreams.
We have also created an association called AEKIA (Spanish Association of Adapted Kiteboarding) from which we aim to make this sport accessible for all persons with disabilities.
As future projects I have the CROSSING OF THE GIBRALTAR STRAIT for which I have been denied the necessary permits but which we still continue fighting to have them granted. From another side, I want to make a KITE SAFARI along the Morocco coast sailing in several spots and with several conditions and for which we are looking for sponsors.
KSm: With this fiery temperament and willingness to go after things, did you nevertheless have one day some doubts that you would have to give up certain things?
Marcos: Never for a moment. If I’ve had to give up on certain things it has been due to a lack of financial support. The prosthesis I use are very expensive and the support for this is zero, this means there will always be projects that cannot be developed.
KSm: What advice would you like to give to those who one day have to face an obstacle that they think can never overcome?
Marcos: Those obstacles are in our minds. There is a saying that I like very much that just captures this philosophy of life: “I did it because I didn’t know that it was impossible”.
