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If badminton in Serie A becomes a family business

For some time badminton in Chiari has been a wealth built in the home and not only for the many family ties among the members. The level reached by the club is such that it has now reached total self-sufficiency, plays Serie A with local boys (some others come from neighboring ones) and it is the Brescia club – if anything – that lends them around, not as happens in other sports, in which the provincial clubs have to ask for help from those in the city.

From this year, among other things, Chiari will also have two coaches who grew up in the team, both very young. Giorgio Gozzini is 23 years old and Chiara Passeri 20. Both economics students, they still play at great levels and are always part of the first team. This year it will often happen that they have to play the double role.

Coaches and players: Chiara Passeri and Giorgio Gozzini, friends and colleagues

«In this case – assures Chiara, originally from Rudiano – we will take turns driving. Having always known each other will help us, also to accept the advice we will exchange, when one will be on the pitch and the other will follow him from the bench ». Giorgio, in this, feels calm. «We are friends, of course, but once we enter the gym everyone has to take on their role“. Even more difficult for Giorgio to deal with his brother Alessandro. “He makes a fuss when I tell him something – he smiles -, then he ends up agreeing with me”.

The sample

Alessandro Gozzini, born in 2001, is one of the flagships of the team. At the last Italian youth championships he won three golds: in addition to the individual one, also the men’s doubles and mixed titles. He lives away from his family to attend the federal center of the national team in Milan: here he studies at the health and social institute and trains every day. At the weekend he returns to Chiari, it is not certain that you will play there again this year: there are no shortage of requests from other Serie A clubs.

Alessandro shares his experience in Milan with two other teammates, now established champions: Giovanni Toti (class 2001), an Army athlete, was in the Italian team that took the first Italian team gold in history at the Olympics in 2018 youth, and Enrico Baroni, born in 2001, who boasts more than 50 appearances in the national team. The brother Cristian, among other things, is an athletic trainer del Chiari together with Cristian Vezzoli. The two Gozzini brothers also involved mother Sabrina, indispensable support of the company on summer campuses. In turn, with Chiara Passeri there is father Giorgio, precious in organizing tournaments.

The team

Some members of the team, with the new sponsor of this season, Farco

Then there are in the club the brothers Alessandro and Nicola Vertua, also from Chiari, and the sisters Anna ed Ester Pezzoni of Cologne. Behind the team there is a country ready to support it. Valuable help from the Municipality of Chiari, which grants free use of the gymnasium of the Einaudi institute for training. For the two very young technicians, helped in their task by Alessandro Redaelli, while Alice Capuzzi follows the little ones, the goal is to stay at the top.

“The club – explains Giorgio Gozzini – asked us to raise the quality level of the entire squad within the framework of a project that sees us competitive on every front”. Because in this sport you never stop learning. «The technique can be perfected day by day – explains Chiara Passeri – and goes hand in hand with physical preparation, taking into account that the competition days are very long». In badminton everyone is indispensable, each match won corresponds to one more point in the standings and they contribute equally to it male and female: the scudetto is unique. This is why the cohesion of the group is fundamental, which in Chiari is more solid than ever.

Another goal, make yourself known more. “It is essential to enter schools – says the president Massimo Merigo -, from there we started when the company was born in 1998. Soon a project will begin that will allow us to involve the middle schools and then it will be the turn of elementary school”.