Q&A: Aranza Vazquez and Yaidel Gamboa discuss shared Latino heritage

Aranza Vazquez and Yaidel Gamboa share a strong bond as athlete and coach, but also through their shared Latino heritage. Gamboa is originally from Cuba and recruited Vazquez when she was a talented, yet relatively unknown, diver from La Paz, Mexico. Now, with Gamboa's guidance, Vazquez is a two-time national champion and winner of the ACC triple crown of diving.

The Daily Tar Heel Sports Editor Shelby Swanson sat down with Vazquez and Gamboa on Tuesday morning to discuss what Hispanic Heritage Month means to both of them.

This interview has been edited for brevity and clarity.

The Daily Tar Heel: Tell me about your journey to come to the U.S. and how diving played a role in that.

Vazquez: Both of my coaches [growing up] were Cuban. So them and Gamboa knew each other, and from there, Gamboa started watching some of my videos. He saw me at a competition and then he invited me at Missouri in 2018 to go see the school and see the program. Then he transferred here [to UNC] and I really wanted to practice with him.

I think with Gamboa being from the same background and place as my coaches and me knowing how to work with them definitely was one of the factors that made me come to the U.S. I was moving away from home, so having that closeness from the coaches that I had and something more close like the Hispanic/Latin heritage played a factor because I knew I was going to be comfortable around him.

Gamboa: I’ve been diving since I was a five-year-old, so diving is what I’ve done my whole life. Through diving, I got an opportunity to coach in Venezuela for two years and coach the national team there, so that’s how I got out of Cuba. Because of the political situation in my country, I didn’t want to go back. I knew I wanted to come to the States. It wasn’t easy, but I went to the U.S. Embassy in Caracas, Venezuela. They approved me for parole and a few months later I was able to come to the States in 2009. I didn’t speak any English — I had to learn a new language and a new culture…it took me four or five years until I got my first coaching job in Orlando. 

DTH: What does Hispanic Heritage Month mean to you?

Vazquez: I guess it’s different now that I’m here because back home, we didn’t have a month for Latin Heritage Month. So being here, and still feeling recognized and feeling like there’s a community for me, [it] helps with being here alone, without my family. Now I have my brother with me, but in years before that, that sense of community and that sense of ‘I’m not alone,’ and [because] there’s so many other Latin and Hispanic people that I could find and make connections with, it helps with that loneliness that you can feel.

DTH: Are there any particular ways you celebrate your heritage in this month or throughout the year? 

Gamboa: Mostly, for me, I’m from Cuba. Born and raised in Cuba. We all have, depending on which country you come from, you have different traditions of celebration. For us, the biggest one is the New Year and New Year’s Eve, big time. It’s a way for us to say thanks to everything you went through that year, celebrate everything that you accomplished or not.

We’re really big about those two specific days — getting together as a family, having a good meal and talking about everything that year, celebrating and talking about what’s next. We come together and we have a specific way to celebrate — we normally roast a pig and things like this and just say bye to the year together and welcome the new year. That’s big in my country.

Vazquez: I’m not sure if I celebrate it, but I’m always proud of saying I’m from Mexico when people ask where I’m from. I love talking about my culture, talking about what it’s like being in Mexico — breaking those stereotypes that might be created…Talking about where I’m from really makes me happy to teach people about another culture, bringing my family and my background and spreading it around the world.

@shelbymswanson

@dthsports | sports@dailytarheel.com

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