Ten young Italian athletes combine sport with studying: the sports college of Insubria is now a reality

 If this will be a step forward to what happens in other countries (USA above all, but also in Europe) we will see it in a short while. What is certain is that an interesting and a potentially fruitful path has been traced thanks to the signing of the protocol for the new university sports college signed today by Alberto Coen Porisini, Dean of the University of Insubria, and two federal presidents (Alfio Giomi for the Athletics Federation and the well-known Giuseppe Abbagnale for the Rowing Federation).

This it is not only a matter of future words and projects. From today on Varese becomes the official reference point for young athletes with a national recognition who want to combine university with a competitive career at a high level. According to the agreement, the ten “pioneers” (that are all involved in their own national youth competitions) remain under contract with their sports societies but they can continue their training thanks to the facilities offered by the City of Varese, under the aegis of the CUS (Sports University Centre of Varese and Como). In addition to this, they can stay at the campus of Via Dunant and attend the university of the city. 

These are important choices especially in those sports (at the moment rowing and middle-distance) in which resources and signings are lower than more popular sports. “There won’t be discounts from an educational point of view. The athletes must work hard on their studies as all the other students, but here they have the opportunity to practice sport at a high level, to be followed step by step by a crew of technicians and important doctors. Today for us is a joyful moment and we hope doing many others steps forward in the field of sport and for the culture of this Country,” declares the Dean.

The presence in Varese of several qualified experts (Danzi for the middle-distance running and Calabrese for the rowing: they are the key figures from the sporting point of view), but also of several professionals with calibre such as Enrico Arcelli, who is going to deal with the diet of the athletes (beside him, offering free advice, there are also Drs Righetti, Girgi and D’Angelo) gives absolute guarantees to the athletes’ families, to the clubs they belong to, and to their current coaches. That is why the first response has been more than positive: at the Insubria there are already seven members of the Italian national team of athletics (Baldaccini, Migliorati, Elia and Tavella, from Lombardy, Bortoli, Dal Magro and Pento, from Veneto, and Manuel Cominotto, who has joined the rest of the team) and three members of the Italian national team of women’s rowing (Faggin, from Padua, Denich, from Trieste, and Giada Colombo, from Trezzo d’Adda).    

“That of Varese is an extraordinary and innovative initiative and this group of athletes have great responsibility, since they are the trailblazers for all Italy” claims Giomi, the president of Fidal. Abbagnale echoes him: “For us it’s the second similar experience, after that of Pavia, and we want the number of athletes to go up starting from the next season. Besides, I’m very happy because we usually stop at words; here we have already passed to actions.” 

Also Mayor Fontana, representative of a city that in this case places its facilities – although sometimes inadequate – at a national youth sporting elite’s disposal, has come to Via Dunant to support the initiative. Who knows, the number of athletes of the Italian national team in Varese might in fact be useful to awaken people and politicians to the matter of plant design, on which we will never tire of keeping harping. One last interesting annotation concerns the current and future partnerships for the college: the collaborations with Enervit, Wap Fitness, Rotary, Summeet, Africa and Run have already started. The project managers are working to open an exchange with an American university, with the altitude training centre in St. Moritz, but also with the Australian hub in Gavirate. And the presence in the room of Bruce Wilson, the man in charge of the structure of the Kangaroos, lets us understand that the way is more than open also on this front.