“The promotion of Grottazzolina in the volleyball Super League is a historic result at a national level, due to the scale of the feat achieved in a town of 3,200 inhabitants. A showcase for the entire territory to be proud of. For this reason, having the team, technical staff and management of Yuasa Battery here makes us very proud.”
Words from the Prefect of Fermo, Dr. Edoardo D’Alascio, at the opening of the reception which took place in the Rubens Hall in the Prefecture of Fermo. A moment of celebration to celebrate the triumphal sporting season of the Grotese team which in just 15 years has climbed the most important peaks of national volleyball, rising from C1 to the A1 series, renamed Super League for a few years. The Yuasa Battery delegation was led by president Rossano Romiti and head coach Massimiliano Ortenzi. Prefect D’Alascio spoke one by one with all the players of the team, inquiring about their city of origin and their sporting career. Having participated in a championship match of the Yuasa Battery, in the circumstance of the play-off between Grottazzolina and Ravenna to access the championship final, the Prefect had well in mind the characteristics of the protagonists of the historic achievement. Some playful banter with Rasmus Breuning Nielsen, the Danish striker elected the strongest player in the entire championship, and with libero Andrea Marchisio, chosen as the best player of the evening in game 3 against Ravenna and awarded, that evening, by the Prefect himself. Dr. D’Alascio focused not only on the promotional aspect of sporting victory for the benefit of the entire territory, but also on the value of sport handed down since ancient Greece. “This is an Olympic year – he said -. In ancient times, wars stopped on the occasion of the Olympics, so much so was the moment for sporting competition felt. It’s nice to see so many young protagonists of this sporting endeavour. Kids coming from all over Italy and beyond, as in the case of Breuning from Denmark and Mitkov from Bulgaria, who united and guided by a high level technical staff have catapulted this small but great reality into the top level of volleyball” . And speaking of a sporting fairytale, Prefect D’Alascio took up the words used by Mauro Berruto, former technical commissioner of the Italian national team, to comment on the extraordinary Yuasa Battery championship in the columns of Avvenire: “Grottazzolina has crowned a run-up that began 50 years ago ago, obtaining its first historic promotion to the A1 series, considered by all experts to be the NBA of world volleyball. Just a beautiful sporting fairytale.” In the room the mayor of Grottazzolina and the president of the Province of Fermo, Michele Ortenzi. The Yuasa Battery delegation was also composed of vice president Claudio Laconi and external relations manager Fabio Paci. The ceremony concluded with the exchange of gifts: the Prefect of Alascio honored the Grotese club with the crest of the Prefecture, while the Yuasa Battery gave the Prefect the personalized playing shirt and the official match ball signed by all the players.
