Successes are not synonymous with impact, a premise that Spanish water polo knows perfectly well. “We are a sport where when a major competition arrives, everyone sees an easy medal, but there isn't much follow-up during the season. We are a country where sports are very powerful and screen time is difficult to obtain, but I think we also have to do some internal self-criticism about why we don't know how to sell our sport more,” analyzes David Martín (Barcelona, 1977), the Spanish men's water polo coach since late 2016. The coach, however, emphasizes that it is not something that worries them. “The guys are clear that we don't train to have more impact, but for our dignity and our ambition.”

"It's a huge source of pride that they're my sisters," acknowledges Natàlia Terré (Barcelona, ​​2001), shortly after leaving the operating room following cruciate ligament surgery. Her sisters, Martina (2002) and Mariona (2004), are the two goalkeepers for the Spanish women's water polo team, the reigning Olympic champions, who debuted on Monday at the European Championships in Portugal with a defeat against Hungary (9-7). Fourteen of the fifteen players are Catalan. Martina, one of the best goalkeepers in the world, wanted to play hockey: "But I couldn't, because there weren't any girls' teams," she says. She had also tried artistic gymnastics. She took up swimming and then water polo: "I only lasted a day as a player because there's a lot of contact. I've always been a goalkeeper thanks to some boy or girl who hit me really hard, and I thought: 'I'm not going back here.' I didn't think it was my sport." And so it was in goal. "I'd rest my feet by the pool so I wouldn't get tired during training," he reveals, laughing. At 23, he already boasts a European gold and silver medal, a World Championship silver and two bronze medals, and an Olympic gold.

Little Clara has already grown accustomed to the noise and the colors of the pool. She opened her eyes as everyone congratulated her mother. Fifteen months after her last match, Judith Forca (Sabadell, 1996) returned to water polo, playing in her team CN Sabadell's victory over CN Mataró in a penalty shootout (14-12) last Wednesday. Forca, 29, provided two assists in her first match since the Olympic final in Paris, where she realized one of her dreams: winning Olympic gold. Then came an even more beautiful dream: Clara. "I wasn't nervous, but I was really looking forward to it. I've been training for months and I missed it, being able to play, the contact with another team, putting on my water polo swimsuit, my cap... I'm very happy," she explained to Ràdio Sabadell.

"We came to the conclusion that it was better to play together," joke Ariadna Ruiz (Rubí, 2002) and Elena Ruiz (Rubí, 2004). They've almost always played together, but for a brief period they faced each other in the water polo league. It didn't last long. "It's just that we understand each other with a glance. Or not even that. In the pool, sometimes you think you know what a teammate will do, but you don't always get it right. Maybe you ask her for the ball... That doesn't happen with her; you don't have to ask her for it. It's like telepathy. I think about what she'll do, and, indeed, she does it," says the younger sister about the older one. And Ariadna nods in agreement.

Three matches. Three wins. 62 goals scored. 17 conceded. These are the group stage figures for the Spanish women's water polo team, which has been competing in the World Cup in Singapore since July 11. With twelve Catalan players, out of the fourteen called up, the team coached by Jordi Valls (Terrassa, 1977) is already preparing for this Saturday's match (2:45 p.m. Spanish time / RTVE Play) against the Netherlands. "They're an opponent at our level who have good players in the two-meter line, good shuttlers, and a game based on speed, counterattacks, and one-on-one play," Valls analyzes.

"Codfish? Dry! Codfish? Dry!" is the name of the Atlético Barceloneta pool. It's the cry of fishermen selling their fish a century ago, when water polo first began in Barcelona. The cry still given before matches by a water polo team that has become the great Dream Team. of modern Catalan sport. This weekend, Barceloneta travels to Malta to play the final four of the Champions League, the most elusive trophy. The semi-final will be on Friday (7:30 p.m.) against Serbia's Novi Beograd, and the final will be on Sunday. The second semi-final pits Hungary's Ferencváros, the reigning champions, against France's CN Marseille. The sailors' team has won the last 20 editions of the Spanish league, but has only been crowned European champion once, in 2014, when they defeated Barcelona's Picornell at the Radnički Kragujevac swimming pools. From that team, only two survivors remain, Felipe Perrone and Alberto Munárriz.

Two seconds. CN Sant Andreu only dominated the scoreboard of the Women's Champions League final for two seconds, the last. And so they were crowned European champions for the first time in Piraeus (Greece). by defeating CN Sabadell. The MVP of the final was Nona Pérez (2003), a Sabadell native who shines for Sant Andreu. The international player welcomes ARA to the club's headquarters, where the trophy is on display at the entrance. Since the trophy disappears for a while during the photo shoot, she takes the opportunity to take photos and send them to her teammates: "I stole it, I have it," she jokes.

The beaches of Rio de Janeiro were his childhood playground, his current office has sea views, his son was born at the Hospital del Mar in Barcelona, and when he has vacations, he boards a sailboat to relax with his wife somewhere with a sea. Felipe Perrone (Rio de Janeiro, 1986) is a man of the sea who one day, at just 15 years old, decided to leave the Atlantic Ocean for the Mediterranean, following in his brother Kiko's footsteps to return to his grandmother's homeland, Catalonia. He had a dream. "I've achieved much more than that teenager ever expected," says Perrone, 39, in a conversation with ARA in a room at the Club Natació Atlètic Barceloneta (CNAB). Evidently, it has sea views.

There will be a Catalan derby in the final of the women's water polo Champions League. Astralpool CN Sabadell and CN Sant Andreu will face each other at the Petros Kapagerov swimming pool in Piraeus, the venue for the final four. The Vallecas team got the job done first, defeating the hosts, Olympiakos (13-15), while the Barcelona team prevailed over Ferencváros (10-7). It will be the first time that Sant Andreu will play in the match for the top European club title, quite the opposite for Sabadell, the reigning champions and vying for an eighth crown.

CN Sant Andreu has been crowned European women's water polo champion for the first time (9-8) after dethroning champions CN Sabadell in a historic final in Piraeus, Greece. The final seemed in the hands of the Vallesans, but a 0-3 run in the final minutes gave the title to Javi Aznar's team. This was Sant Andreu's first Champions League final, and they reached the top thanks to a goal three seconds from time from the young Queralt Antón.