In San Pellegrino the first book in the world dedicated to sport for disabled people

San Pellegrino Terme. A “world premiere” on stage in San Pellegrino Terme. On Saturday 23 March, in the spa town, the medical-scientific Studies and Research Commission of the Italian Boxing Federation of CONI met, which presented the fruit of the work of recent years (the first meeting in June 2021, again in San Pellegrino ): the first and only book in the world dedicated to sports for disabled people and in particular to boxing, “Boxing and disability, guidelines and methodology”.

“Disability in boxing was a topic never addressed before – explains Mario Ireneo Sturla, president of the Commission – Now, thanks to this book, it will be possible to improve the reintegration into society of these people, also through boxing ”. “This commission has an important value – explains Lucio Ricciardi, an internationally renowned physiologist -: with doctors from different backgrounds which allows great freedom of thought. The results are already being seen with this very important book.”

“This year too we had some of the greatest Italian exponents of sports medicine in San Pellegrino Terme – explains Dr. Giampietro Salvi, neurologist of the Quarenghi Clinical Institute and member of the Commission –. It is the third time we have met and after three years of work we managed to present the book on disability in sport. The first and only text in the world that will allow people with disabilities to be classified in order to direct them to the sport most suitable for them. As far as boxing is concerned, it will be contactless and for disabled people it will be very useful as motor and cognitive therapy for social reintegration.

Testifying to the actual usefulness of sport was Marco Guido Salvi, National Vice President of the Italian Association of Parkinsonians and Coordinator of the Bergamo section, who brought his book ‘Don’t Call Me Morbo’ to San Pellegrino, “the story of fifteen parkinsonians who succeeded to find a way to live with the disease, and two caregivers. A book that gives an idea of ​​what the challenges of people with Parkinson’s may be. Among these challenges there is certainly also sport, a stimulus to stay in contact with others and not think about the disease.

The occasion was therefore propitious for analyzing the relationship between sport and disability in its various forms, which sees its maximum expression in the Paralympics, as underlined by Italo Guido Riccagni, FPI sports doctor: “Sport for disabled people was born in Rome with the first Paralympics, where Italy won 80 medals, but with 21 participating nations and 400 participating athletes. Now we have reached over 4,000 athletes and 163 nations, with greater media attention. The Paralympic movement has grown tremendously. And there are also disciplines on the increase, such as wheelchair rugby and now this book for boxing.” A good first step, therefore, to see, perhaps in the future, boxing at the Paralympics (the next ones will take place in Paris from 28 August to 8 September 2024).

Nutrition also plays a key role for healthy sport, a topic on which the Commission is working, as highlighted by Dr. Antonio Bonetti: “Among the various initiatives on which we are working as a Commission there is also nutrition in the sports sector and, in this case, than that of boxers. We want to check what type of diet athletes follow before, during and after the competitive phase.

Doctor Francesco Rondoni, who directs the National Boxing Center in Assisi, finally underlined the important growth of the Italian boxing movement “especially the female one. At the Olympics we will have more athletes than in the past, for example, for the first time there will be 6 weight categories for women, which has never happened. And women themselves are giving us and will give us great satisfaction.”