The appointment with the twenty-third ‘Top News from the regions’ arrives on a special day for an equally special news. In fact, on Christmas day of this very special 2020, the Lombardy institutional web told a beautiful story of sport. It is a story that many remember well, others less well and that is worth telling to younger people who do not know it. To tell it instead, it is ‘one of us’, one who has lived that story very closely and has also chosen a narrative through the testimonies of the territory.
Giorgio Sozzi, when the adventure in judo is something worthwhile
Something that it is worth … and only three words have the strength to open a world of thoughts and reflections. Then read the name, see the face, and for those who have had the privilege of knowing and frequenting Giorgio Sozzi, everything becomes clear, limpid and the memory is linked above all to the judo master, the founder of the Kodokan Cremona and the historic director of Athlon, the long-running and popular federal magazine. But Giorgio Sozzi was also many, many other things that, to put them together, constitute a heritage that should not be lost or forgotten, in order to give them to the youngest, atall those who have not been able to know him. “The certainty is that I have spent my time to build something that is worthwhile. The hope is that we have succeeded in a minimal part ”. These two lines, written by Giorgio a few days before he left in the spring of 2012, tell the story of his great passion, intellectual honesty, deep trust. And it is thanks to Andrea Sozzi, who through the testimonies collected in the city, has created a fundamental book in order not to lose or forget a precious story, Giorgio Sozzi’s adventure in judo … something that is worth. Much.
To convey the idea, two interventions are reported, taken from the introduction to the book, among others. So he wrote Oreste Perri, World Canoe Champion and former Mayor of Cremona.
“Giorgio Sozzi was the teacher of many young people and promoter of sport and solidarity initiatives. After having held top positions at the national level as a manager, he dedicated himself to teaching and spreading judo as an educational discipline for children, adults, agonists and not, the elderly. He was a strong athlete and still remains an icon of Cremonese sport. We can call him Master in the broadest sense of the term, because he wanted to educate through the teaching of judo at all levels. In particular, he spent himself with particular passion and self-denial to affirm the usefulness of this sport in the field of social hardship and in particular of intellectual disability. I personally attended a few lessons with girls and boys in difficulty and I was fascinated by the love and passion with which he was able to involve them on the mat and how much attention they paid in the execution of the exercises. Due to Giorgio’s constant and loving dedication in the field of discomfort and disability, in 2012 the Municipality of Cremona decided to name the Citadel of Personal Services located in the Vecchio Passeggio park after him, in which various associations operate which, as after Giorgio, they take care of people with physical and cognitive difficulties. Giorgio was a life teacher who knew how to turn to champions, but without forgetting those who remained behind, he wanted to give everyone the joy of feeling loved. Great Master, my friend, it was fantastic to see you at work with your boys, with a tough face, but with tender and shiny eyes! I saw Giorgio a few days before he left us: he was very tried by the disease, but I saw him happy because he never ceased to think about his children, happy to carry out his mission to the end: to give himself, to see his happy and satisfied team. Dear Giorgio, you flew away, but you left us a great lesson for sport and for life: victory is not only for those who arrive first, but also for those who know how to stop and help those who remain behind. Hello, Master!
So he wrote Marco Bencivenga, Director of “The Province of Cremona and Crema”
For sport AND for others.
“In every city of Italy there are people who dedicate their lives to sport. Or to the Others. In Cremona there was one capable of achieving both goals at once: he lived for sport AND for others. The most authentic sense of Giorgio Sozzi’s timeless and unreserved commitment is contained in that changing vowel (from O to E). A gift spanning half a century, fifty years of passion and hard work that did not add zeros to his bank account, but a lot of satisfactions to his big heart. Sozzi rejoiced in his personal successes, certainly – from the first yellow belt to the black eighth dan, from the foundation of the Kodokan Cremona to the national federal offices – but even more for the progress made by his students, from the best to the most fragile, from the most talented to the most complicated, from recognized champions to disabled champions, never treated with pity or pity, but – on the contrary – always encouraged to go beyond their physical or mental limits. Like any true sports teacher, Giorgio Sozzi was above all a teacher of life. An educator. An example. This book, which his son Andrea wanted to dedicate to him, tells it well. So that the memory does not disperse. And so that the grandson she never met may know that her grandfather was a giant ”.
Source: fijlkam.it/lombardia
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