President, what is the Venice Academy?
“It represents the pre-competition categories, so the first kicks, chicks, Venice, is the main activity of Venice FC.
You have served as president since 2014. Can you tell us about the path you have taken in recent years, what project has been developed and what its goals are?
“I feel that I took the Academy into concrete hands three years ago, when I captured my model of sports, transversal to football, which affects other activities that need to be carried out together with the municipality, schools, authorities, hospitals, foundations. Through sports you can touch many levers that can not only benefit children by giving them the right education and football training. We have created an entrepreneurial organizational model that can truly be replicated in many other cities and companies. Many people are calling me to look into this model, and many cities are moving towards this model. Many municipalities and companies, both professional and otherwise, are asking for meetings to demonstrate how we have managed to implement this project, with all these activities being carried out continuously and on a solid basis.”
How many years and how many children have been studying at the Academy?
“Our maximum target now is 160 children, but this year we expanded our activities and for the first time created Venezia FC Academy H Farm and Venezia FC Academy Astori. We are going to franchise football events in some schools by creating teams in their name. This is to compensate for the fact that families often do not have the time or economic ability to carry children up and down. So when school ends, there is a team that picks them up and drops them off, and then the best of them come to play with us.”
Can we say that over the years the Academy has become a reference point for the entire territory?
“This became a starting point because we also hold important tournaments at the national level: Milan, Inter, Genoa, Sampdoria, now Juventus is coming, all the teams are at home. The same applies to amateur realities. This also applies to families who want to come see Venice, we prepare tours for them. There is a strong sense of identity between the Academy and the city of Venice. Then our instructors clearly cultivate the dream of getting into the first team.”
Best reviews and thanks?
“The most important gratitude came from the mayor last year: we were awarded the Venice Lion of San Marco award. The most excellent testimonies are those of the director of ASL, who always thanks us for the activities that we carry out, for example in orthopedics or pediatrics, as well as many associations of the disabled, for all the activities that we carry out of a social nature and which, however, we do not divulge, but this is what gives us the most pleasure. Then it’s only natural that we like football the most and we focus on teaching football.”
Last message:
“In my opinion, children should be introduced to the game of football from the age of 5, unfortunately, they come to Italy from about 7-8 years old, we welcome them from the age of 5 with qualified instructors. Then there are very good relationships with the core team and top managers. Therefore, our child dreams of becoming the duty officer of Modolo, the duty officer of Pohjanpalo, our children go to the stadium as if it is the event of the week. Every time we move, we bring hundreds of children, we are present in 30 schools and reach hundreds of children. We also won a tender for sports activities in women’s prisons, and these days we will add this activity to our program.”
Source: Tutto Mercato Web
I am Ben Stock and I work in Athletistic as an author. My specialty is covering football news and other related topics. I have been writing for this website since the past 2 years, crafting compelling stories with the latest updates in the sports world. My articles have gained widespread appreciation amongst readers due to their accuracy and depth of research.
