The sport practicefor the people with disabilitiesrepresents an important means of obtaining the physical well-beingbut also above all a way to reach insertion and integration in the society.
The Valcamonica experience
In the province of Bresciaprecisely the Brenoin a territory totally mountainous such as Valcamonica, at the beginning of the 90’sthe association called came to life “Valcamonica Disabled Sports Center”with the aim of involving people with different types of disabilities in the practice of sports various, such as, for example, athletics, alpine skiing, bowls, soccer, swimming, hippotherapy, tennis and wheelchair tennis, handbike, Nordic skiing, biathlon, sailing, blind tandems, archery and volley shooting today, this reality counts more than one hundred athletes and is affiliated with Italian Paralympic Committee. Interris.it interviewed about this experience of inclusion and sport Gigliola Frassapresident of the “Polisportiva Disabili Valcamonica”.
The interview
How did the “Polisportiva Disabili Valcamonica” come about and what are its goals?
“Polisportiva was founded in 1992 and aims to involve people with disabilities in sport. It all started from Panathlon, a service association whose purpose is to give people with disabilities access to the practice of sport. So, thirty years ago, following the example of Panathlon, the association was born in our valley. Certainly, it wasn’t easy because, in that period, there was little talk of disability and there was much piety. We didn’t give up and we started practicing wheelchair basketball and, after starting in our area, we went looking for the athletes. Within a few years, our society has gotten bigger and bigger, with many athletes and federations.”
What is your business today?
“Today, after thirty years, we have involved all the people who have asked us and we are affiliated with seven different types of sports. The highest number of athletes is made up of people with intellectual disabilities and we have projects, carried out with local educational institutions, involving pupils with disabilities. In addition to these, there are also athletes with physical and sensory disabilities. In particular, we do cross-country skiing and swimming, in which they are not all agonists, but manage to do something very important for themselves. On the physical disability front, this year, we achieved the dream of every sports club, namely to have four athletes in skiing, two in alpine skiing and two in Nordic skiing, in Beijing. In particular, Giuseppe Romele won a bronze medal in the Nordic wheelchair skiing discipline. Beyond the medals, however, we hope we have made our contribution to changing the mentality a bit regarding the issue of disability. The great satisfaction now is represented by the fact that the athletes are recognized not for what they are, but for what they have done and the successes they have reported, this is the most important element”.
