During the “Summer Edition” of the Gymnastics Festival, at the Rimini Fair, on Via Emilia 155, now an iconic place for grassroots federal activity, and not only that, the Consultation of regional presidents and delegates was held. The first topic on the agenda is the round table “Gymnastics that protects”. Among the speakers in the Diotallevi Hall, in front of an audience of company executives, was the president Gherardo Tecchisupported by the general secretary Roberto Pentrella, opened the proceedings, underlining that the social vocation of the Italian Gymnastics Federation dates back to 1896, the year in which the FGI was recognized as a non-profit organisation. “For this reason we have deemed it appropriate to establish a specific department that will collaborate with a series of prestigious partners operating in the sector” – concluded the number one of Viale Tiziano, before passing the floor to the vice president Rosario Pitton, responsible for guiding the political direction of the ESG. “The Environmental, Social and Governance department benefits from the General coordination of Alessandro Pinto, the contribution of Roberto Ghiretti, Francesca Buttara and the Communications Manager David Ciaralli and deals with the management, research and responses to initiatives concerning the issues of openness to the social that involve or could involve some aspects of federal life, with a strong focus on sustainability”.
Dr. Pinto, the brilliant moderator of the meeting, then gave the floor to Dr. Buttarafederal consultant, who, in her report “From Social Responsibility to the ESG Formula in Sport” focused in particular on the topic of sustainability: “It was already being talked about in the Serenissima of Venice way back in 1400, when the Doge followed the reforestation process and the natural cycles of the territory to build wooden ships. Today, companies integrate the theme of profit with that of social responsibility, with an increasingly attentive eye on what happens outside the company, in civil society, implementing strategic actions for sustainability. Sport beyond the competitive dimension thus acquires a fundamental role to be more contemporary, through a value platform necessary to become reference players in one of the main industries of the country. The Federation and its affiliated companies and associations work daily to be an increasingly better place to be and raise our children. Well, the ESG department plays a supporting role in the central and distributed activity”.
And in this journey, families cannot be left behind, as they are essential actors in relational and human needs. Stefano Laurin, General Coordinator of MOIGE, Italian Parents’ Movementbringing greetings from the director Antonio Affinita, illustrated to those present the 2023 revelation of the “Findings on digital citizenship of young people, artificial intelligence and cyber risk” (CLICK HERE for Slides). At the end of a PowerPoint presentation which attracted the maximum attention and curiosity of the listeners, many of whom were parents themselves, President Tecchi handed over to Dr. Laurin, on a USB device, thousands of social co-responsibility agreements collected by the affiliated ASD and SSD, an enthusiastic response from the gymnastics movement, with many mothers and fathers who asked for contact with MOIGE. In this sense, the support activity carried out during Ginnastica in Festa is widespread.
The data of Prof. Leonardo Mendolichio, head of the Eating Disorders and Nutrition Rehabilitation Unit at Auxologico Piancavallo and of the Piancavallo outpatient centerhave provided a rather alarming picture of the phenomenon of eating disorders, highlighting the vulnerability of the new generations: “If we only talk about anorexia, bulimia, food addiction and obesity, the most recent reports say that more than 2 and a half million adolescents are involved, the peak prevalence of the disease is between ten and fifteen years of age. In Italy these numbers translate into three thousand deaths per year from causes related to eating disorders, 85% of which are teenagers. The fragility of girls and boys is the same as that of athletes and this is the game on which the future of the country is played. What response can we give to the health emergency of the youngest? The marriage between Auxologico and FGI is a brilliant intuition, for example, because the two worlds, generational and sporting, meet. The Federation works in gyms with subjects exposed to the danger of the disease. Healthy and protective sport must eradicate risk factors and, by improving the ability to interact and relate, it can help primary prevention. If sport helps prevent, it also helps to recognize those who have already fallen into the tunnel, due to family or external dynamics, independent of physical activity. The adolescent dimension is complex – continued the doctor, psychiatrist and psychotherapist, often a guest on television talk shows where nutritional and eating disorders (DNA) are discussed – We need the tools to grasp, understand, comprehend the symptoms of discomfort. Auxologico will intervene to act quickly. With the “Food for Mind” network we will provide the FGI with the necessary figures. Two points struck me about your environment: the complexity of the athletes’ lives, suspended halfway between the teachings of their coaches and the expectations that their parents place on them; the urgency of modernizing communication and the need to find suitable languages to intercept fleeting attention and the right emotional and psychological counterpart in the dialogue with gymnasts”.
The agreement between FGI and Auxologico, signed in Rimini by Cav. Tecchi and President Mario Colombo, which will bring the prestigious scientific hospitalization and care institute of Milan to the jerseys of all the National Gymnastics Teams, includes three training events in the coming months, in the north, center and south, to create a network of relationships with families, starting from the definition of problems such as, for example, gender dysphoria. The “Food for Mind” department will offer free visits to FGI members up to diagnosis for hypothetical DCA in the centers of the extensive Auxologico network. The training carried out together last year, in the classroom and in FAD mode, under the supervision of the training manager, as well as federal deputy, Valter Peroni, has already received extraordinary recognition from the Italian Trainers Association (IAF) which in Turin, at the SERMIG, arsenal of peace, awarded the FGI and Auxologico IRCCS project as excellence in the area of organizational health and well-being.
In the busy program of the Romagna convention, on the eve of the arrival of the opening stage of the Tour de France, attention shifted to the executive director of the Laureus “Sport for Good” Foundation Italy, Dr. Daria Braga who told the Consulta, open to affiliated companies and associations, the principle “Sport has the power to change the world” (CLICK HERE for the Slides) anticipating the upcoming appointment of Viola Sella among the Ambassadors, on September 5, at the charity and fundraising Gala in Milan. Laureus, in Rimini and in gymnastics, is now at home having been the “official charity” of the European Artistic Gymnastics Championships. In closing, Roberto Ghiretti, founder of the eponymous SGPlus studio and federal consultant for relations with institutions, in his role as vice president of Special Olympics Italy, spoke of the partnership with FGI as an example of avant-garde in terms of integration (CLICK HERE for the Slides), while the vice president of Safeguarding Office Novella Calligaris was responsible for the report on two years of work of the SO together with the Italian Gymnastics Federation. Among other things, President Tecchi, in his final greetings, announced the extension to December 31 for sports bodies – associations and companies affiliated to safeguard the physical and moral integrity of athletes – of the appointment of the SO manager against abuse, violence and discrimination, in accordance with art. 33 paragraph 6 of Legislative Decree no. 36 of 28 February 2021 which, initially, set the deadline at 1 July, one year after the adoption of the guidelines on the matter.
