“I am a warrior” – Getting to know David Fiel
Feature
Christmas 2020 was an unusual holiday. With many restrictions in place to curb the spread of the coronavirus pandemic, we could only celebrate with a very limited number of people. Many families could not come together as they were accustomed to and traveling back to one’s home country was not always possible. David Fiel has not seen his home, Cuba, in a long time. For the 27-year-old player of VfB FRIEDRICHSHAFEN, the Caribbean island is the location where his unique story began, actually without sunshine, white sandy beaches or hand-rolled cigars.
David Fiel“I just wanted to support my family.”
The European holidaymaker pictures Cuba as a paradise. “For vacation, it’s perfect. However, life for a Cuban is very hard,” Fiel says. He knows what he’s talking about: until 2016, he lived in Cuba, before leaving for a life as a professional volleyball player in Europe. Becoming a pro was not the key thing.
At school, David Fiel had a nickname. Loosely translated, he was the one who could “play every sport”. At first, that was rowing and fencing. “I wanted to be good enough to make it onto the Cuban national team,” he remembers. However, that it was not fencing but volleyball only happened when he was 17 years old. Through his father, Fiel had a connection to a volleyball coach. Only half a year later, he was invited to play for the national team.
Although the coach was interested in him, he ‘became an astronaut’, the coach said, before Fiel ‘could even become a national team player’. A short time later, the coach was not yet in space, but Fiel was a part of the “Cuban lions”. However, there is a shadow over this story, which has a lot to do with Fiel’s homeland, Cuba. Four years after Fiel’s birth, his brother was born. Because he was diagnosed with a form of autism, their mother quit her job to take care of the child. Fiel’s father had to provide for his family alone. In a country where the resources are so limited and the people have to cope with recurrent economic crises, the family had “to fight”, as Fiel puts it. His sister, who works in the restaurant business, could only contribute so much, and Fiel? He was a national team player. For Cuban athletes, that means a lot of honour and little profit.
Moreover, on top of that, it was forbidden to sign a professional contract in a foreign country. “I had to make a decision and quit the national team,” he said. That was in 2014. “I wanted to go abroad and earn money.” He had to wait a year and a half for his passport and the chance to leave. “That was April 2, 2016,” the answer shoots from his mouth. It is obvious how important that date is for him.
Fiel went to Poland. He met a girl and married her. During that time, he managed to earn money by playing volleyball, while Wilfredo Leon gave him important support. The best spiker in the world is his “brother and best friend” and showed him “how life in capitalism works”. When things got tight financially, Leon jumped in. “Man, he helped me so much and I will never forget that about him.”
It was also a difficult time, because he missed his family. Once a year, David flew to Cuba for two weeks. These days, he makes money. Of course his salary is not the same as Leon’s and not as high as a professional soccer player’s. “But it’s enough for me and I can send money back to my family in Cuba.” Sometimes he can send more, sometimes less. According to him, it could be a whole lot more. “My family does not put any pressure on me, but I put it on myself. I want them to have a nice house and be able to live well.” On top of that, his sister had to stop working after she became pregnant. Only he and his father earn money now. “We need to fight still, like we always did,” he says with a smile.
Fiel does not know anything different. “I am a warrior.” With a Polish wife, he would have the chance to receive Polish citizenship. Leon did it first but Fiel has other plans for now, because a lot has changed in Cuba since he left. “The country is more open. We even have Internet now.” A lot has changed in sport as well, especially for professional athletes, who want to play for their country. This coming summer, David will travel to Cuba and have a discussion with his federation. “They want me to play for Cuba and I want to do that too. We will sit down together after the season and talk and see what happens.” That is how both things — earning money as an athlete and playing for his country, his dream as a child — could finally happen at the same time.
After playing for PGE Skra BELCHATOW two years ago, Fiel moved to France to join the ranks of Tourcoing LILLE Métropole. He currently plays for VfB FRIEDRICHSHAFEN – one of two teams representing Germany in the 2021 edition of the elite CEV Champions League Volley.