Recently, Costa Ricans Sharon Herrera (race walker), Yokasta Valle (boxer), and Brisa Hennessy (surfer) were included in the list of the 100 most powerful women in Central America published by Forbes magazine, which specializes in business, finance, and lifestyle.
The published article is entitled “100 Visionaries for the world” and one of the reasons why the Ticas stand out in it is because of their leadership in the isthmus in different areas, in addition to their struggles and social work in favor of gender equality.
For Sharon, the article in Forbes Magazine was a surprise, and very gratifying the fact that they recognize the effort as a woman and athlete, “certainly motivates me to continue. What I have always wanted is to leave a different mark, showing that there is not only soccer and that women can take the reins of sport in Costa Rica, in my case with my different sport, I want to inspire others. But I am happy to see that I am among the most powerful women, because for me it has been difficult to be away from my family, to whom I am very close, but it motivates me and makes me think that I am here for something, it fills me with pride,” she said exclusively to our magazine TCRN.
Who is she and where does the Costa Rican athlete come from?
Sharon Herrera is a young athlete who has 8 years as a walker leaving high the name of the country.
All her life she has lived in San Juan de Santa Barbara de Heredia, where she learned to ride a bicycle as a child, there were days when she trained at the Polideportivo and others at home.
She comes from a united family, and parents whom she considers hard workers and fighters, both virtues were instilled in Sharon and her older sister, “to always insist on what we want because things do not fall from the sky, to not give up, always putting ourselves first, which is also teaching us about the blows of life. The hardest thing is to fight even when things get difficult”.
She is inspired in Costa Rica…
The walker Sharon is increasingly inspired by the fact that the sport can grow more in Costa Rica, that is to say, that it is more noticeable in the country, that not only soccer is taken into account, but also other sports disciplines such as the one she practices (race walking), “I would love that we women are the ones who take those reins, to open a new world of possibilities in Costa Rica,” she said.
Sharon, her studies and sports
Currently, the young tica is in Mexico studying the second year of psychology.
When she was 11 years old she started with race walking, but long before that, she practiced several sports such as volleyball, swimming, soccer, and others because her parents always encouraged her to do physical activity.
“My parents had a little soccer school when I was a child and the truth is that I never liked to practice it, my family likes it, even my older sister. When I had already known almost all sports, I remember that a friend of my sister invited us to athletics and there I stayed, I met and trained with the branches of the discipline until I liked the race walking, all through a punishment, because as I did not imagine myself with the march as it seemed a little strange, seeing a girl practicing I made fun and the coach at that time Edrei Vargas, sent me to do a lap marching and told me “you have talent!
Sharon emphasized that going to study and train in Mexico, has resulted that everything being lighter, mainly the issue of training because she lives very close to the High-Performance Center, across the street, which in her opinion, allows her to exercise and rest better since the study is carried out virtually.
He trains one session in the morning (the strongest) and another one in the afternoon, either for therapy or recovery, less strongly than the morning session.
If we talk about competitions and medals, Sharon has not had the time to count them, however, we want to mention that she has left the name of Costa Rica on high in 2 world championships, one of their youth and the other child, 1 Pan American championship, 1 NACACAC championship, National and Central American, which have left her a lot of experience for what she is today, a youth athlete.
The Nacac championship is an athletics event organized by the North, Central American, Central American, and Caribbean Athletics Association, in which athletes from the 31 national federations that make up this organization participate.
Sharon Herrera, NACAC record holder, finished in 2021 in the top 5 of the U18 World Ranking; her first World Championship was in Kenya; her second World Junior Championship was in Cali, Colombia; she has a bronze medal in the Worlds Tour Podêbrady 2022; she has also competed in Guatemala, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Czech Republic, and Spain.
The Costa Rican male runner thinks today, that she is still very young in the sport, that now is the time to do it.
Next year she will move to the free category, “from the youth category to an older one, right now I compete in the 10 km, then for next year’s category it will be 20 km, which is the Olympic distance for older world championships, and from that moment on she will start competing with Olympic athletes, she informed.
Like every athlete, he has the desire to participate in the Olympic Games.
From August 4 to 6 is the Pan American Youth Championship, which will be held in Mayagüez, Puerto Rico, and is the last competition in which he will participate in the Youth Category.
Her pillars in the sporting path
The greatest pillar for Herrera is her mother, Elizabeth Soto, “I am so grateful to her, whenever I have had a bad moment she has been there, when I was starting with race walking she dedicated herself to learning to help me, always looking out for me, pushing me. Today every achievement of mine is hers, I miss her a lot because I am out of Costa Rica”.
In this way, Sharon also emphasized the sports coaches, who have been several from whom she has learned: from one of them about walking, from another one about discipline, from another one she learned that it is not only important the sports but the mental aspect and with the current one who is Mexican, Ignacio Samodio he is also the coach of the three current youth champions, the process that has already been 6 months, has been wonderful, she feels very motivated.
