Consistency, professionalism, seriousness, competence.
But also humility, passion, meritocracy… and friendship.
The real ones, not a façade to gather sterile consensus.
In a nutshell, the new sports life page that Massimo Pizzulli he is about to browse with enthusiasm and with his usual elegance.
Last night, at 6.30pm, the dream bus set sail from Bitonto for Florenceprecisely with destination Covercianoalias The Mecca of Italian footballwhere this morning at 9.30 the bell rang again for the former high school student Massimo, who, thus, returned “to school” to begin this unprecedented, extraordinary adventure.
Not even his classmates are bad for him, given the list of students enrolled and accepted on the training course which in the space of about a month and a half should lead the students to obtain the prestigious qualification of UEFA COACH A to work in Serie C as “first” and in AB as “deputy”: Criscito, Diamanti, Handanovic, Lanzafame, Ribery, to mention only the most high-sounding names that appear in the Official Press Release n°525 of the Technical Sector of the FIGC.
A list in which Pizzulli entered exclusively on merit, by scores acquired in his long career (as a professional footballer, first, and as a coach highly appreciated everywhere, later) and not through “invitation” or other alternative methods of admission to the course.
An enormous professional satisfaction, in short, the result of an impeccable cursus honorum between the pitch and the sidelines, where we remember he has sat for thirteen consecutive seasons…
With his fifty-two years, three-quarters of which spent on the green rectangles (sometimes even sienna-colored, to stay in Tuscany…), a dozen years in professionalism and his over three hundred benches between Eccellenza and Serie D, Massimo Pizzulli he could become the only Bitontino coach to possess this “qualification”.
Among other things, it is a path – a nice curiosity – undertaken almost for fun two years ago, on the occasion of his fiftieth birthday, when the group of trusted lifelong friends contributed decisively to convincing him to accept the UEFA A challenge.
The challenge was taken up by the newly fifty-year-old Massimo, as per his footballing custom, and here we are today cheering for him and his wonderful technical dream…
Our city can only rejoice proudly for such an achievement, to be welcomed in the same way as a victory on the field by any sports team or a single athlete, because one of our exemplary fellow citizens will carry high, we are certain, the name of Bitonto up there, at the top of the pyramid of footballing Italy.
