The summer volleyball camps organized by Volley Bergamo 1991, one of the most renowned volleyball clubs in Italy, in Chiesa in Valmalenco, will end on Saturday after two very intense weeks. A one-of-a-kind event, set up as part of the Valtellina Summer League, the sports tourism project born a couple of seasons ago that aims to increase the flow of tourists in the province of Sondrio through the organization of summer camps, friendly matches and basketball and volleyball tournaments. A project also supported and promoted by APF Valtellina and by local bodies and institutions that have shown that they firmly believe in the sports tourism proposal.
Great participation in the camps, with around sixty girls who enlivened the town of Chiesa in Valmalenco at the beginning of the summer by playing volleyball in the splendid Chiesa gym, but also having fun on the beach volleyball courts of the sports center of Vassalini or going sport climbing on the beautiful equipped rock wall of Lanzada. And what about the trip to Chiareggio, with the girls and their companions speechless at the breathtaking view and with the marmots at the edge of the path greeting everyone with their unmistakable whistle.
“Volley Bergamo 1991 was invited in 2022 and 2023 to participate in the Città di Sondrio tournament – says Andrea Ballan of Valtellina Summer League, one of the organizers of the event – and this year it has chosen to organize its summer camps in Valmalenco . And this is one of the purposes of the Valtellina Summer League: to build loyalty among the clubs and ensure that they feel comfortable so that they can then bring many young people to summer camps. And this means implementing the tourist flow in the province of Sondrio, one of the main purposes of the Valtellina Summer League project”.
There were also many parents, coming from outside the province, who came to Valmalenco to bring and “pick up” their children and who treated themselves to a small holiday admiring the beauty of the place and tasting the typical local products. The uniqueness of the camp proposed by Valtellina Summer League and Volley Bergamo 1991 is that, in addition to the excellent Bergamo technicians coordinated by a youth guru like Enzo Bolla, the girls present also had as coaches some players and some professional players of the caliber of Federica Stufi (central), former captain of Volley Bergamo and with a past also in the national team and in the top teams, Jennifer Boldini, setter of Uyba Busto Arsizio who played a great season contributing decisively to the salvation of the Busto Arsizio team, Laura Bovo, former Volley Bergamo 1991 center back and now in Padua, Max Cioffi, center back who played in Cuneo, and Paolo Bonola, center back from Reggio Emilia and true Grosino.
“Returning to Valmalenco is always a pleasure – Federica Stufi, former captain of Bergamo who discovered the Mallero Valley a few years ago, told us -, I feel the embrace of the mountains in a beautiful landscape, with wonderful flowers and nature”. The camps are a great experience. “It is a unique experience. The camps last almost a week and one of the most beautiful and exciting things is seeing that girls, often coming from different places, in the space of a few hours become friends with each other and become a close-knit group. All united by a great passion for volleyball. It is beautiful to see their desire to train, to learn from high-level coaches but also from professional players. In addition to volleyball, we play beach volleyball, weather permitting, and we practice other activities (climbing and adventure parks). For me and for us players and coaches, it is a pleasure to see the happiness in the eyes of these young girls, to see how they face the first difficulties. At these camps we try to give them the tools to face sport in the best way. Sport that is a school of life. And then lots of joy and fun, because where there are these elements everything is more beautiful.”
And in Valmalenco the girls trained, in the last few days, under the orders of two professional coaches: Luciano Pedullà, already on the benches of Novara and Vero Volley and of the national teams of Germany and Romania to name a few, and Francois Salvagni, current coach of Mulhouse Alsace, in the past among others in Cuneo and Baku.
And the Valtellina Summer League camps don’t end here: next week in the Little Tibet of Valtellina, the highly specialized Livigno Nine Camp will be held with Francois Salvagni, a coach from Mulhouse, who will technically coordinate a staff also composed of professionals Valentina Diouf, a star of Italian volleyball for years now in Mulhouse after having toured half the world (Brazil, Korea and Poland) and won a lot, Federica Stufi, Vittoria Piani, opposite hitter from Volley Bergamo 1991 who won everything last year in Conegliano (Championship, Italian Cup, Super Cup and Champions League), Jennifer Boldini, Ilenia Moro, libero from Pinerolo, revelation of last championship called up by Velasco in the first “Olympic” group, Laura Bovo and professionals Max Cioffi and Paolo Bonola.
Success for the Valtellina Summer League
