Like it or not, in the world of sport, we know, superstition plays a fundamental role both among the active protagonists (athletes) and among the “passive” ones (fans and enthusiasts) and exactly one week ago, in Limassol – Cyprus, fifteen students from the Electronics/Electrotechnics and Mechanics/Mechatronics courses of the IISS VOLTA DE GEMMIS in Bitonto triumphantly crowned their ten days as authentic talismans of the Italian National Under-17 Football Team.
Let’s rewind the tape for a moment, however, putting the events in chronological-consequential order.
The 2024 U17 European Football Championships took place in Cyprus from 20 May to 5 June and the Azzurrini, after losing three finals since 2002 (the year in which this youth competition was inaugurated, ed) to 2023, they have finally won their first continental title.
But the very talented boys coached by Mister Massimiliano Favo have also won the sympathy of the entire football country which has greatly appreciated, thanks to the live TV broadcasts on the Rai Sport HD channel, the sporting performances and positive attitudes of these players. teenagers terrible people with a secure professional future.
Italy U17 played and brilliantly won the three group matches against Poland, Slovakia and Sweden in just six days, playing in Larnaca, Achna and Paralimni. On the occasion of the quarter-finals, what would prove to be the toughest and most fought match of the entire tournament – victory on penalties over highly-rated England – and then unstoppable progress towards the European title with the two victories from clean sheets over Denmark and Portugal, dominated 3-0 in the final; where the 2008 star Francesco Camarda shone very brightly, a rising star of Milan and Italian football, already invested by insiders with the role of starting striker for the senior national team in the near future, as well as vice-top scorer and best player of the Cypriot competition.
The fifteen lucky students of VOLTA DE GEMMIS instead spent, together with three adult companions designated by the Institute, twenty-one unforgettable days on the wonderful island of the eastern Mediterranean, from 17 May to 6 June, for a School-Work Alternation project (now called Paths for Transversal Skills and Orientation, ed) falling within the National Operational Program “For schools, skills and learning environments” – European Social Fund (ESF).
This PCTO mobility not only allowed young aspiring mechanics and electrical technicians to deal with a new cultural, educational and working reality, carrying out an intense internship activity in five different companies in the Ayia Napa area, but it also gave them the opportunity to attending three of the six matches played by the Azzurrini as great protagonists, with many of whom they entered into harmony off the pitch through fervent cheering (also immortalized on TV!), selfies, chats between peers, welcome sporting gifts, private chats and so on and so forth there’s more to it…
Up to the point that the actors on the pitch “demanded” the presence of the shouters in the stands ultras blues for the final act in Limassol, over 100 km away from the students’ headquarters in Ayia Napa.
On the other hand, the Bitontino-Cypriot troop on the road he had already witnessed victories over Sweden and Denmark, at Paralimni and Larnaca respectively. The rest is history, emotions, joy, smiles, indelible shots.
Like it or not, in the world of sport, superstition plays a fundamental role, it was said…
