Tomorrow evening, Saturday 30 December, at 8.30 pm the 2023 calendar year of men’s volleyball ends at the San Rocco Castagnaretta sports hall with the first day back of the A2 series championship.
Big match for Puliservice Acqua S.Bernardo Cuneo which faces the top of the class, Yuasa Battery Grottazzolina which in the first part of the regular season managed to win 11 victories out of 12 races. The only flaw was the external knockout on the twelfth day in Santa Croce sull’Arno, but even on that occasion the boys coached by Massimiliano Ortenzi still gained a point having only lost in the tie break.
The ranking at the moment sees Grottazzolina ahead of everyone with 34 points, behind Cuneo who in the direct clash of the last round beat Prata di Pordenone reaching second place with 27.
The ingredients to ensure that tomorrow evening is a clash between the titans are all there: “For me it remains a match like all the others”, says the president of Cuneo Volley, Gabriele Costamagna, who we met on the eve of the match and with whom we conducted a long interview which we propose to you in full.
In the interview Costamagna takes stock of what has been done in 2023, talking about future corporate aspirations, but without forgetting the present: from 1 January 2024 Cuneo Volley will take over the custody of the splendid Cuneo sports hall, where between New Year’s Eve and the day of the Epiphany Bellerofonte, branch of the sports club directed by the president, will organize two important entertainment events.
President, what year was 2023 for Cuneo Volley?
“Like last year I would divide the year into two parts. A first semester with sporting results that were not of a high level and unpleasant situations, such as the departure of the coach: it was not an easy decision to make. Then there was an exciting phase in the summer, with the reconstruction of the team that we did together with sporting director Paolo Brugiafreddo. Up to the present day, where all in all we are doing well.”
A balance sheet for the team in the first part of the regular season?
“Satisfying. We are now, but also when the team wasn’t performing at its maximum potential at the beginning of the season. We worked well, although obviously there remains something to fix. But one thing I wouldn’t change: the defeat against Castellana Grotte. It was the lowest moment, which allowed us to square up and start again. It really helped us a lot.”
Are you also satisfied with the public’s response?
“Very. A lot of work was done with marketing to find interesting situations and bring audiences to the arena. Let’s not forget that we often played at times and days that were not exactly favorable, on Saturday and Wednesday evenings, but despite everything the response was always over 1000 people actually present. Then in the last match against Prata di Pordenone I saw a positive attitude from those who were present, with a hot support that gave us a big hand. Can we do better? Of course, but if the results come there will be more and more people cheering for us.”
What do you expect from the second part of the season?
“Inevitably the championship forces have to come out. There are teams that have not yet expressed their maximum potential, so for our part I expect the team to continue working to improve, perhaps finding a little more courage in some fundamentals. The joke, for example, where we will have to be braver but also more brilliant. The objective is to arrive in full shape at the end of the regular season and then face the playoffs with maximum potential.”
So far the sporting part. As far as the club is concerned, is there anything you feel you need to improve on?
“We have a peculiarity: doing many things. Always learning. Sometimes on the outside I might seem a little presumptuous, but that’s not the case. We are all aware that every day we learn something, and in that day we will have more to learn. I would be happy to propose a new capital increase, bringing in new members, but I don’t know when that will be yet. We also want to improve at a management level by consolidating the current team and expanding it to new figures, to guarantee the continuity of Cuneo men’s volleyball”.
Regardless of what the field expresses, does the company feel ready for a possible leap in category?
“Yes, we are ready. From an economic point of view with partners who will eventually do their part and a lot from me. I feel really excited for such an eventuality. An important second part of the season awaits us also from the point of view of sponsorships and contributions. A possible Final Four organized in Cuneo with us present would be a great opportunity to exploit. I feel like saying that we are ready for a possible leap in category also at an organizational level. We have a carefully constructed organizational chart, where everyone knows what their role is. So yes, if this opportunity were to arrive we are very ready to seize it”
Are you also ready to manage the sports hall?
“Let’s divide things: volleyball and the company that will initially “look after” the sports hall. We are ready for the second one: from January 1st my company will take over custody and we are working to create a path together with the institutions to arrive at future management. Which is something very different from what we are preparing to undertake: managing a structure means taking on the actual costs of the system, i.e. working as if it were a company. I still see this step as a bit far away. First you will have to understand if the events work, what situations can possibly be created within the structure. On the part of the Municipality, in the person of the councilor Valter Fantino, and of all the relevant offices, there is great availability. The Municipality has recently carried out the renovation of the acoustic system and will soon take care of the lighting part: they are working hard. We’ll see, I don’t deny that we will try to get to management.”
Speaking of events, two important dates await you, on the afternoon of New Year’s Eve and on January 6th with the Nomadi concert.
“We consider the one on January 1st a bit like the classic Trojan Horse preparatory to the Nomadi concert on the day of the Befana. There was a good response for the first one, while the pre-sale for the Nomadi concert is going swimmingly. The organization is progressing well and also in this case institutions and sponsors have helped us a lot. I am very happy, but at this point I would like to understand if what we are doing alone could be increased by expanding participation together with the city’s women’s volleyball club. It is an appeal that I address to Cuneo Granda Volley. This is everyone’s arena, so trying to think together would be important. We’re trying.”
Do you have a call for entrepreneurs to get involved in volleyball?
“I don’t complain about them, they’re close to us. Even some large companies, which later did not sponsor, received us and listened to our proposals. The area is responding well. It is clear that if we were to make a leap in category, it will be important to have more and more companies that are close also on an economic level. It doesn’t worry me so much the first year, but then the expectations from a sporting point of view would inevitably increase over time. We would like to avoid that after three or four years we continue to be always fighting for salvation or, worse still, even there again trying to climb back up. These realities in America are defined as “zombie societies”: those that never know whether to continue or “shoot themselves”. Well, I’d like to avoid getting to that.”
President, on a personal level, what are you asking for in 2024?
“Not much. Simply that the community we have created is good. And then, after 7 years of being in volleyball I wouldn’t mind winning something. Yes, that.”
