Combining motherhood and the gamma extra: Marta Bayo's return with the Castellers de Vilafranca

Vilafranca del PenedèsPregnancy and motherhood involve an unavoidable break for castellers, but the real challenge often comes later. Regaining physical fitness, reorganizing family schedules, managing breastfeeding, or overcoming the feeling of missing important moments of childhood are, like in any job, some of the obstacles that arise on the path back to the square. A reality shared by many women in the casteller world and which often goes unnoticed behind great collective achievements.

Despite the difficulties, there is a factor that pushes many castelleres to return: passion. For those who live castells intensely, distancing themselves is not easy. Castells are part of their routine, their friendships, and, in many cases, their very identity. "Castells hook you," castellers themselves often summarize. And it is precisely this emotional bond that explains why many women, after becoming mothers, seek a way to continue being part of the group despite the new difficulties.

More than twenty years wearing the green shirt

More than twenty years wearing the green shirt

Marta entered the casteller world almost by chance. She was only six years old when, in 2000, a workshop in Sant Martí Sarroca changed her path. “We weren’t supposed to go to the workshop, but the castells were there, we got dressed and approached them,” she recalls. That first experience led her to the Castellers de Vilafranca, the group where she grew up, learned, and lived her entire career. “I haven’t stopped doing castells since then,” she explains. Over time, that activity became a way of life. “I have adapted my life to castells,” she summarizes naturally.

For more than two decades, her presence at rehearsals and squares has been constant. Castells have occupied weekends, festivals, and key moments of her adult life. But they have also been a network and a space of belonging difficult to find elsewhere.

In 2024, however, life presented her with an important decision. With her partner, Adrià, they had been talking for a while about taking the step to become parents. There was no ideal moment. “It’s never a good time,” she admits. The castellero calendar is always full of objectives, challenges, and decisive seasons. That year, moreover, Marta was experiencing a special moment: she had managed to become part of the pd9fmp, one of the most demanding feats of the group. “When we loaded the nine-story pillar, I already felt that perhaps it was time to make a break,” she explains. But closing a chapter like this is never easy. The decision was gradually maturing between the excitement of the family project and the difficulty of moving away from what had been the center of her life.

The 2025 season began with this uncertainty. Marta spoke with the head of the group to explain the situation, with the idea of continuing as long as her body and the moment allowed. She performed the first acts, even completing a six-story pillar. And shortly after, the news arrived: she was pregnant.

Conflicting emotions

That moment changed everything, but not abruptly. She remained connected to the group, attending rehearsals and helping from the ground, especially with the children. “I didn't want to stay home without building castles, without knowing when I would return,” she explains. But experiencing it from a different position opened up a completely new perspective for her. For the first time, she observed the constructions without being directly part of them. And this generated conflicting emotions in her: pride, longing, and, at times, a certain distance that was difficult to accept on important days.

There were particularly sensitive moments, like seeing certain castles or pillars from the ground. “It was a bit difficult for me,” she admits. But there was also a clear feeling: the castles were still inside her, even though the way she experienced them had changed. During her pregnancy, Marta also promised herself that she wouldn't consider her casteller stage over. For a while, she had thought that, after becoming a mother, she might not climb again. But reality proved her wrong. “I'm still hooked on it,” she acknowledges.

A lot of work behind it

The return has not been easy or immediate. Physical recovery has required constant work: pelvic floor, abdominal belt, physiotherapy, and adapted exercises. She has also incorporated routines from home and sought out spaces, like climbing, to stay active. To all this is added breastfeeding and the daily logistics of a baby only six months old. But if there is one difficulty that weighs more than the rest, it is not physical. "What I find hardest is the guilt," she confesses. The feeling of missing moments with her son appears especially during performances, when the hours away from home are long and intense. However, she also explains that her son has adapted well and that her partner's support has been fundamental for her to continue.

To download an extra gamma again

Her return to the square with an extra-gamma tower took place last week in El Vendrell. That day, she assures, was different from all previous ones. There was no pressure, only desire. “I really wanted to return,” she says. And this time, the towers were experienced with a new calm, almost unknown to her. “I enjoyed it a lot. I had missed it very much.”

Over time, Marta has even found an unexpected parallel between motherhood and castells. Her son's growth, the constant novelties, and the small achievements remind her, in a way, of what happens in the square. "There are always new challenges," she reflects.

Today she tries to sustain these two essential parts of her life: motherhood and castells. She no longer lives it with the demand of before, but with the balance she has seen is possible. She knows she can't always reach everything, but also that she doesn't want to give up on anything entirely. "Castells have been my life," she says. And despite the changes, they continue to be in a way. Because in her case, as in that of many other castelleres, it's not just about going up again or not going up. It's about something harder to explain: the impossibility of distancing oneself from everything that has been part of an entire life.

Her story reflects an increasingly visible reality in the world of castells: that of women who try to combine motherhood and their group, amidst renunciations, adaptations, and essential support. A path that is not easy, but which also shows the strength of a bond that, like good castells, is very difficult to break.