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Lets analyse the Under 23s category. As of this year, after
the 2005 experiments in Amsterdam and those in 2006 in
Hazewinkel, the appointment at Strathclyde in Scotland will
be organised as if it were a world championship. What kind
of team do you plan sending, competitive or merely
representational?
Italy’s national team isn’t one to go just for the
sake of taking part and so to Scotland I shall send a highly
motivated and competitive team. In order to guarantee this,
bearing in mind the programme, should it be required, I
shall also try to use athletes that are part of the Olympic
group.
- The Under 23s worlds has given dignity to a category
which, after two years of activity as juniors, find
themselves having to compete at the highest levels if they
want to win a medal. Do you think this contributes to
incrementing the vocation for rowing and, if so, do you not
think that an athlete might feel satisfied with that and
thus not want to fight to get into the top team?
I believe the Under 23s Worlds are important because,
in this way, there is competition between athletes of the
same age group, allowing each athlete to compete with the
hope of winning a medal. The athlete that is motivated to
win will therefore also have the motivation with which to
climb even higher and fight for a place in the top team. The
Under 23s Worlds will contribute to the competitive
development of the athletes, and the best will be able to
grab a place in the top team.
- The athletes that belong to this category, but also
those in the top category, are often also busy with
university. What do you do to help them study and train in
the national teams at the same time?
I am entirely at their disposal, and so, as and when
I know their needs, I help them, especially during the
winter period when they can study more and do exams so as
to be freer in the major competition periods. I am here and
I await them, as I believe that education should go abreast
with competitive sport: the one must not penalise the other
and vice versa.
- In the Under 23s group are there athletes who have the
potential for becoming great champions?
Yes, there certainly are some very strong individual
athletes and it is no chance that they come to both
gatherings. The future is theirs and if they work hard they
will be able to assert themselves.
- And now the Adaptives. At last rowing will also be part
of the Paralympics and you will be the first technical
director to lead an Italian Paralympics team. What is your
approach to this important category which the Italian rowing
federation is giving so much attention to?
The first thing I did was to manifest my full trust
in the coaches that had in the past acquired both a the
technical knowledge needed and an understanding of the
Adaptive athletes. I shall be following their preparation
more closely in the coming months so as to have a broader
vision of this sector.
- For the formation of the various boats how are things
going and, above all, how do you recruit athletes for the
Adaptives?
It’s not me who recruits the athletes but I do follow
what’s going on in this sector closely and above all what
the clubs are doing. So I am sure that in the end we shall
have a team that will have improved and that will thus be
able to play its part at the Monaco world championships.
- Do you think that the athletes that are in the
Adaptives can also teach something to all the others?
An Adaptive athlete in doing rowing shows a tremendous
will and a desire to be still a protagonist in his life,
dictating its rhythm. To be an athlete is also a way of
giving a positive message to society in general and to the
so-called “normals” in particular. Thus, athletes in the
Italian teams should learn from them motivation, application
and the search for an objective that should be the highest
possible.
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to be continued |