“Sport has been and will always be a universal value, promoter of values such as: equality, solidarity, tolerance, fairness, freedom of expression, integration, overcoming barriers and respect for the rules.
These are the principles and ideals to which our ASD has referred since the first day of its establishment; and precisely because of the respect for these principles we find ourselves forced, in spite of ourselves, to have to clarify and respond to those who probably think completely different things about our work, or perhaps more simply don’t know us well.
ASD AIDA was born in 2013 as a sports association for archery, and, over the years, thanks to the tenacity and commitment of our president and all the members, it has become a thriving multi-sports club on a national level, which has as its main purpose that of promoting the integration between disabled and non-disabled in sport and in life.
The activity of our ASD which over the years has acquired a position of very high prestige both in FITARCO Calabria and at a national level and which has led it in a very short time to have the honor of organizing the first Italian Championships on the recommendation of Fitarco Italia Para Archery that took place here in Calabria in 2021 as well as being awarded, among the very few in Italy, a Paralympic sports dissemination project in collaboration with Vodafone Italia and the Foundation for the South, which took us to schools in all the provinces of Calabria and in many squares of Calabrian cities to demonstrate how sports such as archery, table tennis, table football and fencing could be practiced simultaneously between able-bodied and disabled, all sitting on wheelchairs.
Among the many members of the various disciplines, a very important role has always been played by the very young archers of Cinquefrondi; a group of guys who for years have been passionately playing sport education and commitment within our ASD and which also led them to win Italian team titles in 2022, as a seal of those values we mentioned at the beginning.
Our youngsters were born here and the talent of our Champion Enza Petrilli was born here too. ASD AIDA right from the start, since before what ever happened in the history of archery in Italy had been done and which is now a reality!
After years of training in the vicinity of the sports field, the need to have an indoor place to train our boys and all the members led us to ask the Municipality of Cinquefrondi for the use of that area which was free, not intended for a football field or any other destination! It is an area resulting from the restructuring of the Sports Field which took place several years ago and, until our intervention, was unused!
Thus, having obtained the necessary authorizations, we started the construction of our house, a multi-sports center unique in Italy for the simple fact that it will combine the competitive sport practice of archery with other Paralympic sports; union between athletes with disabilities, very young and able-bodied adults.
Precisely for these reasons, our project was co-financed by the National Fitarco and by other private sponsors who have always believed in us, achieving one success after another and thus resulting in a total zero cost for the Municipality of Cinquefrondi. but at the total expense of ASD AIDA.
We read that some political movement in the city claims that the concession given by the Municipality of Cinquefrondi to our ASD “would prevent the enlargement of the sports field” due to the fact that the local football team cannot play on its own field.
It doesn’t seem to us that a project to enlarge the sports field had been presented before we were given the concession of the soil, which, it should be remembered, was periodically cleaned and kept in order by the ASD; on the contrary, a technical and economic feasibility project has been approved which would allow the coexistence of all the systems, however widening the playing field on the opposite side.
Given that the approval of this project, in the press release signed by the local section of the Democratic Party, does not mention it, one might wonder if the problem at this point is not precisely the presence of our ASD in that area, the only possible place for the realization of our project.
Claiming that the work we are carrying out is an impediment to other sports or even that it has a “bad environmental impact” is gratuitous and deliberate malice! A construction that as soon as completed will instead have “zero” energy consumption, completely powered by renewable energies, whose external areas will be furnished with hedges, green barriers and trees, which is instead judged only by the structural skeleton that is now in sight.
ASD AIDA will never be in your way to the growth of no other sport, this is demonstrated by the fact that even before proceeding with the start of work in various technical meetings we clarified that in case problems of any kind related to the pitch should arise, we would be available to review the project.
For these reasons we cannot bow down to a clumsy political speculation badly concocted by those who probably don’t know the sporting realities like ours who thrive on integration, cohesion and sharing, starting with the disabled, young people and their rebirth in sport.
We are available for any form of collaboration and dialogue, but only with those who want to build together with us and not with those who want to destroy regardless, sure of demonstrating to everyone the validity of our ideas for young people and for those who want to practice sport in a healthy, politely and with respect”.
