The Rosario town of Las Rosas experienced an emotional event yesterday that paid tribute to María Reyes Benítez, known as La Comadre, a pioneer woman in the sport of Canarian pelota and petanque and historic president of the Rosario-Las Rosas Bolas Club. From now on, the Las Rosas ball field will be called María Reyes La Comadre Sports Center, complying with the plenary agreement to make visible women with important careers in the sports life of the municipality. The mayor of El Rosario, Escolásico Gil, presided over the naming ceremony, in which he was also accompanied by the general director of Sports of the Government of the Canary IslandsJosé Francisco Pérez, and the rest of the local government.
María Reyes, 78 years old, was supported at all times by her husband and the rest of her family, as well as by neighbors and members of the Rosario-Las Rosas Bolas Club. She received the affection of all the people present and words of gratitude from the first mayor for having managed, in the eighties of the last century, to be a pioneer in a man’s world.
“I don’t deserve that much”
An excited María Reyes thanked the Corporation for the gesture, although she clarified that she believed she did not deserve so much, said the veteran athlete before receiving an institutional metope and a bouquet of flowers. The family photo was taken in front of the spectacular mural in which the face of the honoree is captured, the work of artist Erik Air, also present at the ceremony, which was enlivened by the brothers Miriam and Fernando Cruz, and presented by Teddy Fernández.
The mayor assured during the event that “in a difficult time for women to make their way in any facet of life that was not restricted to the domestic, she achieved it in sport, expanding the limits and being a pioneer in the discipline of Canarian pelota and later petanque.
