Mia, 11 years old, is clear: her parents would have to make a great financial effort, make sacrifices, cut back here and move there, so that she could compete in the biggest planetary BMX event, the World Cup final that will be held in the United States from May 10 to 18.
“He knows what it costs, about 5,000 euros, and also that we can't pay it…” –explains Marc Ayats, Mia's father– “…but we want him to go, because it is in the cradle of BMX, and because he defends her crown”: Mia Ayats is the current BMX world champion, the most explosive discipline in cycling, in which she is a genius.
However, the fact that Mia is a world champion at 11 years old and a potential future figure in an Olympic discipline is not enough reason for the Spanish Cycling Federation (RFEC) to bet on this young rider from Altafulla (Tarragona). Faced with the silence in response from the Federation to the request for financial aid to participate in the World Cup in Rock Hill, in South Carolina, Mia's father opted for the straightest path: he started a crowdfunding campaign through the platform of crowdfunding GoFundMe, to obtain donations that would make Mia's “American dream” come true.
In less than two months, since February 7, when the campaign opened, Mia's request has raised 3,295 euros of the 5,000 euros she needs to cover the cost of two plane tickets, accommodation for 10 days, and car rental with 66 donations. for travel, food, race registration and official team clothing.
“There have been no conversations with the Spanish Federation; I wrote to them – also to La Catalana – to help us financially, but they have not answered us. Mia is going to the World Cup representing Spain” – explains the father – “and she is the only Spanish person who is a BMX world champion”, so she understands that she could be given help to attend the World Cup in which she will represent the Spanish Federation.
The RFEC does not have it stipulated this way. Consulted by La Vanguardia, the Federation does not consider itself responsible for athletes under 16 years of age, even if they have a federation license. “At the level of teams and UCI competitions, the Federation's calls are made from the junior category, with 16-17 years old,” explains Carlos Faba, head of communications for the RFEC.
“Below that age (16), there are no calls, neither in Spain, nor in France nor in any country. In fact, the UCI does not organize world championships for minors, with the exception of BMX, in which there are championships for 5-6 year old categories.” An exceptionality that is not shared by the Federation, which doubts “to what extent” competitions for children aged 10-11 are relevant.
“I understand that they don't help me financially because of their regulations, but do we also have to pay for the official team shirt?” asks Marc Ayats, who has also had to pay the 70 euros that the official shirt costs out of his own pocket. sponsored by Cofidis and Movistar. “We have asked them to pay for at least the national team shirt, but they have not responded to that either.”
The Federation is also not considered involved in the supply of the team's official clothing. Remember that the International Cycling Union (UCI) “establishes the rule that in international competitions the team's uniform is worn, which the Federation assumes when the cyclists are youth, sub-23 and elite [professionals]. Whether he competes outside of those categories [representing the Federation] is up to him. “This is how federated cycling is governed, not only in Spain.”
So Marc Ayats and the families of the dozen children who race BMX in Spain in international competitions have no choice but to dig deep into their pockets. And in the case of modest families – Marc is a gardener and his wife, Anna, is a salesperson in a company – the expenditure on their children's sports hobby usually weighs down the domestic economy.
“The problem is that BMX is a minority sport, and in cycling all the help goes to the track and the Vuelta. What would happen if my daughter was a crack at soccer? Surely there would be more help for children,” Ayats opens other debates, that of the consideration of minors as competitors and the dictatorship that soccer exercises, eclipsing almost all sports.
“No one paid any attention to her,” Marc Ayats laments the lack of recognition that Mia had when she won the BMX World Championship in Glasgow last August in the Girls 10 category (10-year-old girls). “It shouldn't have been of much interest,” comments Mia's father, whose success was ignored at home – “they didn't even call her for the Festa de l'Esport Català” – and it was not reported on the news channel on the Spanish Federation's website. of Cycling.
“It was not published on the web any more than it is published when a masters [veteran] is world champion,” they reply from the RFEC. “But the Federation made a mention on its social networks (X) congratulating her on her title.” And they add: “There is nothing against this girl, it's just that she is not part of the Federation's scope of competence. If when she turns 16-17 she continues competing and she does so well, the Federation will call her up. But at her age, as well as in Masters, the Federation does not assume competition or travel expenses.”
Neither Mia nor her father give up. The young woman, from the BMX Catalonia Team Club in the Barcelona neighborhood of Horta, has her eyes set on Rock Hill. “If everything goes well, she has the potential to reach the finals,” hopes Marc, who trusts in the talent of his daughter, who since competing in BMX since she was six years old has been three times Spanish champion, European champion and of the world.
