Editor's note: This text was originally published on Francisco Velasco's blog on 10/25/2010 and with additions in April 2013 and Oct 2014. Shared here in honor of Antonio Trindade. Rest in power
The year 1949 was indeed prodigious in launching sports figures who eventually recorded brilliant careers in the future. The visit of the World Champion National Team, invited for the inauguration of the first roller skating and field hockey rink of the Grupo Desportivo de Lourenço Marques, worked as a talisman for the youngsters that proliferated in the city's clubs, especially those of SNECI.
In the preface of this site, regarding this event, I put a picture where the teams that were going to face each other appear, the National Team and the Union's team. From it I was able to find Marciano Nicanor da Silva, the little goalkeeper that appears there, transformed into David of the story already told, in the category "From the Top Hat".
It would be unfair of me not to extract from that same photograph António de Castro Trindade and pay him my homage for what he has achieved in his extraordinary sporting career, which I gladly describe on this page.
I will try to follow faithfully the data provided at my request. They, by themselves, will reveal the extraordinary path of an athlete who was my partner in Roller Hockey(and with a future), but who very early on changed the sport for Tennis, Table Tennis and Chess. All of us, the skating-oriented ones, would sometimes sit on the terraces and watch his training sessions, which, with a high weekly frequency, were guided and stimulated by his father and coach. The persistence of this hard work were seeds that bore tasty fruits.
I was born on September 29, 1933, and my sports activity began, seriously, in 1949 and lasted until 1974.
I was Champion of Mozambique: 15 titles in a row (1959 to 1974); Champion of Lourenço Marques: 19 titles (13 in a row); Champion of 1st Categories (there were 2nd and 3rd categories): 15 titles (9 in a row).
I won 198 tournaments: 2 International; 15 men's doubles; 8 mixed doubles. I also won important victories over the Nigerian and Rhodesian champions, and in men's doubles I beat the South African No. 3 and No. 5 in the final. I won a total of 272 events.
Table Tennis - Champion: 11 titles; tournaments: 115; teams: 10.
Roller Hockey - SNECI athlete with a 1-year stint at Sporting Clube de LM.
The SNECI team: Nicanor (Moreira), António Souto, José Souto, Velasco (an aside) and Trindade, who won several tournaments. Before this team emerged, I played against the Champions of the World, the famous formation that inaugurated the rink of Grupo Desportivo de LM.
I only played one year - I was Beginner's Champion; 3rd Category runner-up; 2nd Category runner-up and 14th in 1st Category.
Table Tennis - Veterans - Several times National Champion by teams, for Casa Pia and winner of some Inatel tournaments. I beat 3 former National Champions, respectively Benfica and Sporting. I played for 6 years, (and never managed to beat Louro).
Tennis 1986 to 2009 - After an interruption of 12 years, I returned to play with 53 years of age in Veterans, only entering in competition at 55: -7 times as nº 1, Round +55; 10 National titles (5 in +55, 2 in +60 and 3 in +70; 7 National titles in +45 by Belenenses; 1 National title in +55, by Clube de Ténis de Espinho: 2 International Tournaments in +55, in Algarve, in the following total of tournaments: 131 (31 in +45; 99 in +55 and 1 in +60).
International Iberian Cup Tournament (I.T.F.) - (Players from various parts of the world).
Singles - 12 titles. This race is done in 3 stages, Lisbon, Spain and Algarve. To win a title the minimum is two victories and as I had the opportunity to win some 3 stages, I had 28 victories.
Doubles-men - 7 titles (14 wins), a total of 42 wins; From 2003 on, 5 Masters were held, winning 4.
Unusual cases - Circuit of Thermal Springs: 8 times, winner. This event lasted 8 years and I started playing at age 63 in the +55 bracket; Masters Circuit: I won 4 times in 8; Covilhã; very strong tournament, in 20 years, I won 16; important victories: in the +60 bracket, I beat the 15th in the world, in the +65 bracket, the 7th in the world, and victories over the Spanish champions and the national team of the same country, in the +55, +60, +65 and +70 brackets.
Unprecedented - At the age of 63 and until 70 years old, I kept myself within the first 3 ranks; at 64, nº8 in the +45 rank; at 68, nº2 in the +65 and +50 ranks; at 70, nº3 in the +55 rank; at 68 years old, I was winner of the Termas +55, Masters +55, Covilhã +55, Iberian Cup +65 (Lisbon, Spain and Algarve). I did a trik and won the Masters; at the age of 69, in 30 races I went to 29 finals, with 13 victories and 16 second places; at the age of 74, in the Iberian Cup, in the +70 category (year 2008), I did a trik plus the Masters. From 74 until now, I continue to win in the +70 class. In a total of races, including National and International teams, I have won 297 races so far.
Final note - In 2008, in the Algarve, in the +70 age group (74 years old) in the final, I got a great victory over an American player, with the game almost lost. I lost the first game by 7-5, when I was leading 5-3. In the second, down 6-5 and 30 to nothing, I won 7-6. In the super tie-break, losing 8-4, I ended up winning 10-8.
I don't want to stay out of this story without saying that Trindade and I, among the SNECI gang and elsewhere, had no rivals at the level of Table Tennis and that, when we faced each other, everything stopped in the game room to appreciate it. It should be said in passing that he beat me more often than I did him.
At a certain point, SNECI's Table Tennis Section organized itself to participate in a mega Tournament held at the Clube Ferroviário's Gymnasium, with the registration of dozens of teams. The two Section leaders, much older than Trindade and myself, instead of pairing us up, formed two teams, each coupling with one of us. Of course, at that time, what we wanted was to play and we didn't realize the bad strategy used. As a consequence, both Trindade and I had to win our games, as our partners lost theirs, and make a titanic effort, to win the tie-break games, in pairs, in order to proceed. As expected, we resisted as much as possible in the progression, and both teams were eventually eliminated. The Ferroviário team won, which included the Champion of the sport, Trigo de Morais, a true artist to behold. On the way, if I'm not dreaming, I even beat the 3rd or 4th place team from England, an English coach, at the time working for Rádio Clube de Moçambique, whose team entered the tournament.
I stopped playing Table Tennis when Trindade showed up at the club, now very dedicated to the sport he had become champion of, to train with me, bringing some Japanese sponge rackets, a novelty at the time. This technological advance eliminated the loudness of the sandpaper racket, of high decibels, to which I was formatted, and I no longer found the balls coming from the other side of the table funny, like silent missiles. I became disinterested in the sport that I had always found beneficial to the development of quick reactions, the effect of which was reflected in the practice of Roller Hockey.
As for traditional tennis, I began practicing it regularly at the age of 42, at Ellis Park in Johannesburg, with various friends and Carlos Garcez, the latter standing out for the simple reason that he became my coach. Thanks to him and to my enthusiasm and competitive spirit, I evolved in such a way that I beat him in the only tournament held in earnest, among some twenty participants, with him justifying himself of some impediment related to tennis elbow. I rejoiced at the time, even though I was also eliminated, and cheered him up by saying: - "Do you want greater glory than to be beaten by your student"?
As forping-pong, I continued to practice it around this time, now with my friends António (Toninho) Rodrigues, António Carlos, and even my tennis teacher Carlos Garcês, when every Friday night we would stroll around Hillbrow.
Back in Mozambique, in 1978, on the same courts at Jardim Vasco da Gama, where António Trindade systematically beat his eternal rival, Professor Prata Dias, I won a 2nd Category tournament, in which many local and foreign players from the Cooperation participated, and was even invited to join the upper category, the "Trutas", who played on the lower courts, where things were not easy at all.
Unfortunately, the accident that victimized me, interrupted my "more than obvious glorious career" in these new tennis adventures, which I regret, because I would like to be today catching some valuable beatings from my friend and companion António Trindade, the Campioníssimo.
In an addition to this piece published on October 25, 2010, I am today, April 16, 2013, adding new achievements that in the interim were accomplished by Trindade, who apparently continues to be unstoppable!
National Championship +70 3 titles
1 Iberian Cup +70 and 1 Iberian Cup +75
1 Master + 70 and 1 Master +75
1 Pair men +65
2 itf +70 tournaments
2 Regular Tournaments
1 Iberian Cup +75, won in March 2013
1 International Open Catanhede itf +65, October 2013
One more addition. This friend of ours Trindade adds up and keeps going and makes me wish he would start losing because I don't want to spend the rest of my life opening this page to add his exploits. For the ride of the wagon, and the friendship of old, I will make an exception and write down his victories, the most, until the +90 races, if I get there...
October 2014
National Champion Veterans +70
Vice Champion Pairs +65 ...(Maybe the partner was a bee!!!)
