As an athlete, as a mother, as a volunteer, as a manager, Pilar Carrillo was always very close to badminton and that has led her to climb very high.
Pan Am Chief Operating Officer, who last year received a recognition, along with German Valdez, Development Director, for his longstanding contributions during 10 years of service to Badminton Pan Am, tells us a bit about how she got involved in badminton and how has his professional career been.
“I worked as a volunteer in the Badminton Commission of the Regatas Lima Club and there I met the president of the Peruvian Badminton Federation who invited me to be part of the board as General Secretary. Then, the Peruvian Sports Institute (IPD) invited me to be Technical Coordinator of Badminton and little by little I became more involved in the administrative area.”
The Badminton Pan-American Confederation (Badminton Pan Am) had its headquarters in the United States and all the communications it issued were in English, a detail that marked a gap with the Spanish-speaking countries but resolved when hiring Pilar for this important work.
“In 2003, the president of the Peruvian Federation took over at Badminton Pan Am and offered to be the nexus of communication with the Spanish-speaking countries. Thus, I became more involved in the issues of the Confederation. After a few years they gave me the job of being responsible for the Badminton Pan Am Office and we have been working for the Pan American badminton for 10 years.”
But badminton, for Pilar, is more than just a labor issue. “The badminton comes to me by family inheritance, my parents played badminton in the club, I have played at a competitive level and my children have also followed badminton. And I think that everything I do now is an opportunity to collaborate with my sport with a passion that I carry in my blood.”
“There be opportunities in life, every day there is something new, every day is a challenge.”
“When this professional opportunity arose, I did not hesitate to take it, I felt very comfortable working with the confidence of the team that accompanied me and thinking that we could do everything better and better for the sport in the region. We have been able to constitute a Confederation with a great human team where we work as a family and feel comfortable. We have a very solid internal structure and many challenges for the future, with things to improve, but I like to get involved in something that allows me to develop, create, and always commit myself with a lot of passion in what I do. I have no limits and that leads me to be what I am. I feel identified with this work.”
Pilar is where she wants to be and that has filled her life with satisfaction. “Badminton has given me the satisfaction of feeling useful, feeling very welcome, I have met very good people and I feel recognized and appreciated for the work we have done.”
Mother of 3 children involved in sports, with many achievements and the great joy of having competed internationally. “I found that, through sports, my children developed in a very positive way and in a very healthy environment that has presented them with many personal opportunities. In addition, I have the satisfaction of having fulfilled the dream of any athlete and parent of an athlete: reach the maximum sport competition that is an Olympic Games.”
The difficulties are not foreign to anyone. There will always be problems to face and cope with in different areas of life, but “if there are no problems one does not learn. Of the difficulties and the bad moments one must know how to get up, know how to recognize mistakes, apologize when it is necessary to do so and move on. There were many opportunities in which we had to improvise and that, having no previous experience, makes you make mistakes. It is important to have this type of experience because it makes you better.”
It is often said that the opportunities are not the same for men and women, that society is still struggling with some marked differences, but Carrillo, in her experience, sees this issue from another perspective.
“I have had the opportunity to work with men in different areas and I do not see the need to make a difference in the opportunities between men and women. I think we have the same opportunities and everyone has to demonstrate, with capabilities and preparation, what are capable of.”
There are not many women who occupy large administrative positions in our sport, but those who are in them always stand out, for it Pilar recommends that “we have to prepare with studies, looking for experiences, with good people around who give us correct advice. Life is not just sitting at a desk, grabbing a book and learning. Life is also share with people who have had a life trajectory, and sometimes the “University of Life” is the one that most teaches you how to live in a society as difficult as we currently have.”
Every day we have more women involved in the sports industry, in roles of athletes, coaches, technical officials, administrative, etc., and this gives a new nuance to the constant development of Pan-American sport.
“It gives me great pleasure to see that there are more and more young women who are getting involved in the sports work area. Currently options are being opened to have more coaches, more technical officers and athletes in high performance. I thank all the mothers and fathers who give these girls the opportunity, who accompany them in their careers, believe in them and motivate them to continue with their ideals.”
