Italy cup – Cesenatico 2009, 29 giugno-3 luglio

Innanzitutto un ringraziamento agli organizzatori dell’Italy Cup – Cesenatico 2009, allo staff di Eurosportring, alle ragazze della Gesturist, al Bakia calcio e soprattutto alla squadra dei Lisle Redwings, che mi ha dato l’emozione di vincere il primo posto nella categoria G18 femminile. Questo post è per loro, e come tale, esclusi i ringraziamenti sinceri a tutti coloro che hanno lavorato per il successo di questa edizione del torneo, è scritto in inglese.

Hi boys and girls!!! I am writing from my office, at home, and the pendant you gave me is just in front of me. The content of the first lines, that some of you with Italian origins may read through, is basically a word of thank to the organisers of the tournament, namely Eurosportring, Gesturist, Bakia, and above all to you.

You and the girls in particular gave me the excitement of winning the first place cup in the G18 category.

You suddenly entered my life with all your smiles, with your fair and good play, with your music on the fields, with the discipline you proved to respect (except for a few occasions on the balconies of the hotel )

You are the team I am so proud of, like I have never been before. Not only because you won, girls, but also because you made me take part in your victory. I am used to being closed in a booth, where what I translate is extremely important, too, but where I am merely a tool, a piece of furniture sometimes, and a part of the organization in a sense.

You all, boys-girls-coaches-parents, made me feel a part of you rather than of the organization. I was a friend rather than a detached interpreter, just like our mythical coach driver was a supporter rather than a simple chauffeur. I have heard for one week things like “Tash we love you!” much more than “Can you translate that for me?” and I really thank you for all the pictures we took together, which I hope I will find on Facebook as soon as you finish your Spanish tournament and fly back to Chicago, Illinois.

My utmost gratitude goes to the two team leaders, as this week would not have been the same without their sound coaching, without their meetings before the matches, without the respect they obtained without needing to shout and get angry like so many Italian coaches were doing.

I thank them for showing me what being complementary means, since they were so different and so unique at the same time, just like the two sides of the same coin. They were the sum of expertise and youth, of talkativeness and silence, of what seemed at first sight an extrovert and a shy personality. They were, and still are, a model to follow not only in football but in every aspect of life.

In Italian we would say that these kinds of sports and tournaments are “una palestra di vita”, which basically means that they are a training for life. Well, I really thank you for letting me in an experience which goes far beyond football, for both kids and parents.

I am so sorry for what happened yesterday at Moretti Stadium, when an Italian team proved it had not understood what respect, fair play, good manners and football are. But I am strongly convinced that that is an exception, and I want to believe that reality is rather the twin flag that the American and Italian teams made yesterday to support together your girls who were playing the final.

The last lines should be words of gratitude to the expert side of the coin, in other words to the coach who moved me deeply when he decided to step aside, to let the younger side take his own decisions and enjoy his own victory. A mentor, at a certain moment, should let his “disciple” go his/her own way – he told me.

This reminded me of Professor Guy Aston, the witness and the guide of my Masters Degree Thesis, the man who allowed me to be wrong and to learn from my mistakes, the man who helped me grow and still does while my PhD projects unfolds.

So thank you all for the wonderful week we spent together! And as the coach told me last night, when it was so difficult to part, I won’t say “good bye” but rather “see ya” or “later”, as if there were another opportunity to see each other soon…

Alla prossima, then