MILAN – The presentation of the 2024 season of the Italian national youth and senior teams was held today at the Belvedere of Palazzo Lombardia in Milan.
The meeting, held in a packed room, was attended by national and local FIPAV leaders, representatives of local political and sporting institutions, federal partners, as well as the main national press organs. The speakers of the day were: the FIPAV president Giuseppe Manfredi, the two technical commissioners of the senior national teams Julio Velasco and Ferdinando De Giorgi, the Technical Director of the Women’s Youth Sector Marco Mencarelli and the Technical Coordinator of the Men’s Youth National Teams Vincenzo Fanizza. The presentation was moderated by the well-known face of Rai Sport, Simona Rolandi.
After the greetings of the Undersecretary with Delegation for Sport and Youth, Lara Magoni the federal sponsors brought their greetings; after reading a speech by the CEO of DHL Italia Nazzarena Franco, the BigMat President took the floor, Alessandro Cerbai, President Erreà, Angelo Gandolfi.
The word then passed to the FIPAV President, Giuseppe Manfredi: “A big thank you to the undersecretary Lara Magoni for her words and the president of the Lombardy Region Attilio Fontana for hosting us in this splendid location. The Lombardy Region has always been close to the world of volleyball; we are completing some work at the Pavesi Center in Milan, a source of pride for our business, which among other things is currently hosting the first collegiate members of the women’s senior national team. It’s nice to find friendly faces on a day like this. I truly thank everyone present, the press and in particular all our partners. A season is about to begin, which will be delicate and important, and their presence and closeness really makes us very proud. Among other things, at the beginning of April, we were all together in Locorotondo, in Puglia, for a weekend of analysis. In fact, we talked about numbers and results; we come from the organization of the two European Championships last summer which was not easy to put into practice, but with the commitment of all those involved, it turned out to be an experience to remember, both in terms of image and numbers . We were very happy to hear that the Piepoli Institute had done a great job: it had given us absolutely significant results.”
President Manfredi then continued: “The data emerging from the research is very interesting. Research shows that volleyball is one of the favorite sports among young people. We can say that after football, volleyball is the second most popular and practiced team sport, the first if we consider only the female universe. The public success achieved in the two European championships certainly contributed to increasing these numbers. The mission of the federal council in recent years has always been to promote the sport of volleyball among young people in the best possible way. At the same time we work tirelessly on the high level. The research conducted by the Piepoli Institute did nothing but certify these results. We are clearly happy and proud of the work we have done. The Olympic pass? With beach volleyball we practically have two couples already at the Games. As far as volleyball is concerned, we must be aware that we are Italy and therefore the absence of our national teams is unimaginable. At the same time, however, I say that we must be very careful and concentrated because the matches must be played and won to go to Paris. The Italian coaches are very prepared and I am very confident. As FIPAV, we support all our national teams, from the seniors to the under 17 national team. The driving force of the Italian national teams is fundamental for our entire movement. The national teams are therefore a heritage to be preserved and cherished with care. At the same time I have to thank the men’s and women’s clubs for all the investments they make every year. Investments that allow us to increasingly raise the level of our national championships”.
These are the words of the Executive President of the Piepoli Institute, Livio Gigliuto: “For us it is an important day. Being here is a source of great pride. We have given the opportunity to carry out a detailed analysis on the data relating to the entire Italian volleyball movement, from the national one to that linked to the clubs. We did a sample interview giving great emphasis to the youth world. We have carried out studies to understand how many people in Italy follow the discipline, how they follow it and how often. An important and significant thing emerged from these interviews: when the national team plays the results in numerical terms are always very very high”.
Then the time came to hear from the Azzurri coaches. The Director of the women’s national teams spoke, Marco Mencarelli: “We have come from two truly extraordinary summers as far as the world of youth women’s volleyball is concerned. The experience, not only on the field, acquired by the girls over the last few years has been something extremely important. Fortunately we won everything on the pitch. We really do everything we can to achieve the objectives set. This year will be dedicated to the European Championships, while next year will be that of the world championships. We can say that in women’s youth volleyball we are in a transition phase, the FIVB has changed the categories and there will be other changes that will be implemented in 2026. We look towards the future in an absolutely optimistic way.”.
These are the words of the Technical Coordinator of the men’s youth national teams, Vincenzo Fanizza: “We have a great responsibility to confirm the results obtained in recent years by taking up the legacy of Julio Velasco. For us it is a great incentive to do well. This year we worked a lot in the area with the Club Italia Largato project. Intense work with all the Italian regions and with the technicians we met from time to time we had wonderful moments of discussion. We are very confident for this season. An intense 2024 which includes the commitment of all our youth teams in the European Category Championships. As president Manfredi also said, we are Italy and therefore we must always take the field with the aim of winning”.
Then the long-awaited considerations of the coaches of the senior national teams. The Technical Commissioner of the Women’s National Team, Julio Velasco: “I’m quite excited but I’m convinced that Paris will excite me more. Our season has already started, we have started training camps and the girls are performing in an extraordinary way. The group will be strengthened week after week based on commitments with the respective clubs. All players will have a week off after playing their last match with the clubs. We won’t have the team at the top for the first few games but that’s not a problem because I believe a lot in this group. I really want to underline an aspect that is very important to me: I have not called up any player who is not a regular at their club. If an athlete has certain potential, she must demonstrate it on the pitch and be a protagonist, otherwise she won’t make the national team. I don’t take qualification for Paris for granted even if it’s true that we are well placed in the Olympic ranking. Nothing can be taken for granted because qualification must be earned on the field. Without doing any further calculations, we basically have to win every game. All athletes will have to give their all in training. Being a team must be the determining factor. Our Federation gave us total support for the organization of the first collegiate meetings at the Pavesi Center in Milan; the first official outings, the first test matches, will soon begin. The players will have to overcome their limits. We are ready to face this new season. One important thing: I will not allow the summer to spin on the name of Paola Egonu and Ekaterina Antopova. We are a team”.
The Coach of the Men’s National Team, Ferdinando De Giorgi: “It’s a pleasure to be here today. We didn’t qualify for the Games last October, at this point we need to get qualified as soon as possible during the VNL. We will therefore start from the first few weeks with the best Italians on the field to obtain qualification for the Paris 2024 Games. Once we have obtained qualification, we will then be able to better plan all the rest of our activity. The ranking calculation is very complicated and as Velasco has already said, it is better to think of winning them all. We will have to take one step at a time and think game after game. The difference will then be made by the work in the gym, the daily work understood as overcoming limits is fundamental to improving and winning the match. It’s this mentality that I try to inculcate in the kids. In the list of 30 for the VNL there are the guys who today I considered the most useful to the cause. Once the VNL is over I will draw a line and certainly if necessary I will change some choices. The men’s national team has reached very high levels and goals. The most challenging part now will be to keep Italy at a very high level. I am very confident in our abilities and above all in the kids I coach. As I have said on other occasions, I am happy to be able to continue my work with the national team and with this fantastic group of guys after the Paris Games.”.
