With a woman's face and her own name, the 21st edition of the Jorge Luis Valdés Rionda in Memoriam National Press Softball Tournament unleashes one of the most sublime storms. While the carefree spirit cemented the birth of such a story, Lilian Cid, the first woman to dispute the softball event, tucked it with the courage to look into the eyes of what many describe as impossible. Unaffected by tensions, in a flutter of freedom and gender equality, the girl from Las Tunas attracted all eyes thanks to the virtue of never giving up and walking towards the unknown.

Las Tunas, Cuba.- In a constant ebullition of emotions, Lilian championed between the meaning of her maxim that it is possible and the quality of surrender in the field.

"I was surprised by what I experienced, although it was clear to me that I had to try to do the best I could, I didn't expect it that way. I enjoyed it and saw it as a learning process. I am not sure that next year every team will have a female competitor, despite the claims of the organizers of the event, but I hope that this will be a door that opens for those who wish to participate and break down even more barriers."

"My presence is a message, the method to raise my voice and break the mold. People should do what they like, it is too short a life to sow limits. Just because one advocates for gender equality does not mean that there are no differences in physical abilities when it comes to playing, but, at the same time, the simple fact of having the opportunity to live it and contribute to the collective cause is equivalent to the spoils you seek when you love what you do."

Some fears also crept into the suitcase, as the competitiveness of the heiress of a baseball surname in the Balcón de Oriente forced her to demand to be useful for the team. Nevertheless, with smiles and unrivaled impetus, Lilian displayed the virtues of individual self-improvement on the pitch, as she reflected in a dialogue with 26.

Without much warning and against the logic imposed in her life by the universe of numbers, the bug to tell stories and humanize the protagonists sprouted to head the Deporcuba website. From the Luis Urquiza Jorge Pre-university Vocational Institute of Exact Sciences to the University of Computer Sciences; from Villa Azul (Puerto Padre) to Havana, the path of becoming great step by step, always with humility as her armor.

The first great challenge, undoubtedly, is to get involved in the variety of criteria that make a team grow, how was the reception?

"Spectacular! What was achieved in the competition is not only merit for me but for everyone in general. The fact that they believed in me helped me to believe in myself too. I have received a lot of love and respect. When someone spreads the experiences, I think that the team from Las Tunas should be mentioned and thanked."

"I would like to echo the words of one of the members: If I am here today it is because we are a family'. When I arrived I knew only a few of them and I did not have any relationship with the rest, but I believe that the lessons come from there, from what was obtained from the team, who, I reiterate, were the main protagonists in that sense."

You were the epicenter of the media during those days, how did you coexist with that?

"I had some idea of what could happen, but the truth is that it is surprising, which becomes an added pressure. I have no problem with the media following me; however, it was my responsibility to project a message that brings women together. The important thing lies in that attempt to do it and to conceive it in the best possible way. Lilian was the spearhead, now it's up to the others to join in."

Indoor football, athletics, softball... a wide range of sports that you have played and that you have taken on as a journalist, where does this love come from?

"I am a frustrated athlete. Despite my short stature, I played volleyball, managed to play in provincial competitions representing Puerto Padre, and even got the invitation to study at the School of School Sports Initiation. I could be anything I wanted to be, but I would be limited by my size, so that was not the way to go. Out of that frustration came a love affair with sports, and I also enjoyed it a lot at home."

You have shone a light on the horizon for many women in the country, but in particular, what is your legacy for that little girl who calls you mum?

"That is the biggest task I carry out, above all, because of the responsibility of guiding her on the path of good. I try to instill in her the need to do better, sometimes she tells me: 'Mum, I can't' and then I ask her to tell me: 'I don't know, I haven't achieved it, but never that you can't' because you have to keep trying until you achieve it. Above all, what I would like is to see her reflected as a good person and for her to continue with the heart that she has."

The gloom has also been part of the landscape, especially when the goals are ambitious, what are the main obstacles you have faced?

"Personally, the biggest obstacle is that I am attached to being at home with my people. I find change difficult, although life has put me in conflict with these situations time and time again. The biggest war I have had to fight is with the crossroads of nostalgia. Professionally, I have faltered at times, especially in athletics, because of the same obstacles imposed by the profession. Regardless of the reasons for the decisions, it comes back to me like a boomerang and gives me new strength to keep going."

Now that you have become a woman of challenges, what would be the next challenge?

"Right now I don't know, I guess something will come up to fight for, otherwise I'm not alive, I'm not me. I always have to have a goal ahead of me, to overcome. I am currently involved in the course for sports commentators, in which I have gone between uncertainty and the courage to be able to do it because I have a lot of respect for the profession. If I get such a title, it would also be the equivalent of making a dream come true, from the first moment I had to face some fears. In short, the main thing is to keep my philosophy, every day a new goal, every day to find that sense of living. From my social networks, I have been told that I am a warrior, I confess that I don't like that term very much, I prefer to show myself as a dreamer."