GROTTAZZOLINA – Not even the need to set up a team capable of competing with the top clubs convinced Yuasa to do without Riccardo Vecchi. The home boy, born and raised in the Gialloblù academy, will also be part of the roster of the team that will play in the Super League and will continue to be captain. His history in volleyball has very few equals.
«I ran out of available promotions» he said smiling immediately after the match in Siena, on a now historic 25 April 2024 which marked Grottazzolina’s first and so far only rise to the Olympus of volleyball.
Riccardo Vecchi, captain and flag of the Yuasa Battery, wearing the M&G Scuola Pallavolo shirt, he started from minivolley and he arrived up there where everyone dreams, in the Super League. An incredible story that of the twenty-eight year old from Fermo, born in Montappone and raised between the gyms of Montegiorgio and Grottazzolina. A story to tell. Riccardo’s passion for volleyball was born since he was a child; a passion shared with his younger brother Edoardo, with whom he also shared some passages of his career. He started with Serie D and then Serie C when he wasn’t even sixteen years old because his qualities were very evident right from the start. Then the national spotlight, in Serie B2 and B1, up to the much desired and dreamed of Serie A.
His powerful jumping skills, combined with a refined technique, have allowed him to more than make up for his 185 centimeters in height as well as self-sacrifice, seriousness, passion and respect, human and technical qualities that have led Vecchi to be a reference in the M&G Volleyball School , both as an athlete and as a coach of the youth sector: no one better than him, in fact, can transmit to young people the principles that led a normal provincial boy to become a champion of Italian volleyball.
Confirmation on the Super League roster was not a given. «I am very happy that the club and coach Ortenzi have renewed their trust in me once again – the words of Riccardo Vecchi – even more so this year given that we will participate in the top national series. It is an unexpected confirmation, which makes me very proud. Facing a Super League championship, the first in the history of Grottazzolina, with the rank of captain is a unique sensation, I smile at the thought of having to win draws even against world champions. It will certainly be a good challenge for me and for the whole club, given that it will be the first year as a newly promoted player in this championship which is the best in the world. The team will be quite different from that of the recently concluded season, with the addition of many strong and established players from whom I will have to learn the most and try to grow both as a player and as a person. It will be stimulating to train with all of them and my goal will certainly be to carve out a niche for myself to try to make my qualities available for the team.”
Undisputed qualities from a technical point of view are those of Vecchi, an excellent hitter and authentic specialist of the second line, characteristics that will certainly make him useful to the balance of the team, in a context of very high competitiveness which will also coincide with his debut in a new playing facility given that Yuasa will play at the PalaSavelli in Porto San Giorgio. «We will also face the change of arena, and for me, who grew up in the Grottazzolina arena, it will be a total novelty. I can’t wait to fully enjoy this news and see it full and loud.”
