Lions Tortona Rugby: interview with coach Frisone
Rugby in Tortona is now a solid reality that excites many young and old and a nice group of girls who, despite difficulties and sacrifices, work with great dedication to grow and give ever greater visibility to the sport they love. In this season the protagonists were the boys led by coach Frisone who played in the Serie C championship, the girls of coach Baldovino who instead participated in the Serie A and the very young people who through Urpa were able to participate in championships, tournaments and trips of education to gain great experience. We met the coach of the men’s team Giorgio Frisone to take stock of the year.
How did the recently concluded boys’ season go? “The balance at the end of the year is a glass half full and half empty. It was the first year together with some boys from Alessandria on loan who, like ours, were very open to joining and a nice group was formed. In terms of performance, however, we had too many ups and downs, we could have done more. In some matches we collected much less than what we showed on the pitch, nevertheless the desire has not waned and there is great enthusiasm for next year. In Tortona, rugby is a beautiful reality that is based on love and passion.” Is there any news for next season? “Yes, again together with Alessandria we will set up the Urpa Seniores project where we, Alessandria and Novi are involved and will therefore serve as a basin where the youth teams can play so that they don’t run the risk of dispersing and can stay together. We will do training sessions spread across various fields.” How is the growth of Tortona rugby players progressing? “On a mental level it’s good, they’re growing and improving physically too but we’re struggling to recruit. Rugby is a hard and tiring sport where you get hit, everyone likes to watch it on television but it is complex to play and learn. Having the camp in Alluvioni also doesn’t help us with visibility and then we live on volunteering and self-financing, it’s not easy. This year it has also been more difficult to enter schools due to the bureaucracy becoming more and more intricate, a particular course is needed and it is increasingly complicated.” You train and play far from the city. Do difficulties in finding suitable facilities affect your business? “Yes, here in Tortona there are no structures, at most spaces to build but we don’t have any money for this, I repeat we are all volunteers, we finance ourselves with fees and we have micro sponsors”. Have you spoken to the municipality about this? “The sports councilor of the municipality of Tortona was present at the presentation of the Urpa Juniores in which the mayors were invited and we had made the request for a van to transport the kids, with a rental at a subsidized price, not free of course. The answer never came.” Can the girls’ season in Serie A be considered positive? “We should ask this question to the coach of our lionesses but I can say that even without victories it has been positive in a difficult championship on a technical and logistical level like Serie A. The project with Cuspo has worked and there are new girls who have approached rugby, they have passion and love for this sport and are promoting rugby in the University. A note of merit goes to the factotum Giorgio Marchetti, if he wasn’t there at an organizational level it would be difficult”. Young. How is the Urpa project for youth going? “Given that it is a project that I have embraced and will always embrace, there have been problems at a local level. Some young people, especially the youngest, U14 and U16, struggle to travel to Alessandria for training in the afternoon due to problems with school and studies. To remedy this, Antonio Pacilio and I make them train and work here in Tortona, at the Audax field and when they succeed we bring them into a group with the others. Some even suffer a little from the competition.” Have you already decided the dates for next season? “Athletic training from 14 June, closed for the first two weeks of August, 31 August – 1 September training camp, then friendly matches in September”.
Davide Maruffo
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