Other Sports / Biella Tuesday 09 January 2024
In his Dojo O Nami men and women grow by teaching passion, dedication and spirit
Sports editorial team
»Salvatore, Salvo, an eclectic and volcanic character, first and foremost a Judo master and then a lover of a thousand arts that to call a hobby would be an understatement. From working with wood (starting from pipes and ending with canoes) to ceramics, passing through infinite others, all linked by that red thread (care, patience, perseverance, meditation, the transformation of thought into gesture and vice versa) which is the life philosophy of serious martial arts enthusiasts.” This is what a friend of his wrote a few months ago when Salvatore Azzarello retired, adding: «For a guy like him, claiming that he has retired sounds oxymoronic. It is a bureaucratic formality that is completely irrelevant to the roots of his spirit.”
Salvatore Azzarello
And in fact Salvo had continued to do many things and obsessively take care of his great passion, or rather a mission, which was Judo: for him, who was a 6th dan black belt, and for his many students. His family knows this very well, and they wanted to reiterate it even in these days of pain: «He has always truly helped everyone and put judo first in his life. He has always had a special relationship with his boys and did not leave them alone even in these two months of great physical and mental suffering: during this very difficult period he also wanted to hold online exams for some of them… a true judoka until the end.” A life that was not just Judo, but which was devoted to others: in the last twenty years or so he had worked with the Maria Cecilia cooperative as an operator during the night hours in the municipal structure in Piazza del Monte in Biella. To write it in a few words and to make it clear to everyone: he welcomed the people who used the dormitory by providing them with everything they needed and, above all, giving that little bit of human warmth that is often missing in this historical era in which we live.
Salvatore Azzarello passed away on the night between Monday 8th and Tuesday 9th January at the age of 62 due to a subtle illness that took him away in just two months. He leaves behind his father Giuseppe, his mother Teresa, his sisters Rosy with Enrico, Stella with Fabrizio, his affectionate friend Martina, many nephews, uncles, cousins and the collaborators and athletes of the O Nami Dojo. The Holy Rosary is scheduled for Wednesday 10th January at 7pm in the Parish Church of Vergnasco, while the funeral will be held on Thursday 11th at 3pm again in Vergnasco.
His name will remain inextricably linked to Biella judo: many have passed through his life and judo gym, the Dojo O Nami, and, most likely, many will pass through in the future, in his memory and to continue pursuing his philosophy: passion, dedication, spirit, the key points that he himself dictated to us in an interview in the month of March telling us about the passage of rank to 6th Dan. Precisely for this reason we propose it again below, edited by our journalist Stefano Vicario, which tells of the athlete, the instructor, the teacher, the man: “a good man” as many have wanted to write everywhere on social media in these hours.
I believe I will never stop teaching judo and its values: there is no age to stop doing it, when the body no longer responds, words and experiences will take care of sharing my knowledge
Salvatore, how did your passion for judo arise? Until I was fifteen I was a roller skater, I was actually quite capable, but I remember that in May 1975 I was struck by seeing a judo training. At that point I decided to enroll in September, but when I told my father I didn’t get the positive response I was hoping for: I knew I was asking for a significant financial sacrifice for our possibilities at the time. So I found a job to contribute to the expenses and from that moment my adventure in judo began. I started at the Judo Club Biella in 1975 and although Biella was an average city, the Dojo had around 400 members. The first regional and national results arrived, but the turning point came in 1980 in Rome when I became 1st DAN black belt. This allowed me to enter SMEF (Military School of Physical Education), which had a park-like barracks and practiced approximately five or six hours every day. I have always been very sporty, as a boy I was a very rigorous athlete: on Saturdays I often ran from Biella to Oropa, once in the morning and once in the afternoon. I normally practiced the Dojo 4 times a week and I believe that moving is essential for anyone, plus if you do it while having fun I find it even more effective.
How did your “career” as a Maestro begin? When I met Cesare Barioli, I was struck by his person, for me he has always been a pioneer of judo, an enlightened being. It was at Busen Milano in Via Arese where I understood that there wasn’t just the search for the elegance of the gesture. Instead I discovered that that man was talking about things that I already felt inside but didn’t know how to make them come out, he was referring to education, and so I decided to follow him, until his passing. My first technical experience was at Nippon Biella where Furthermore, I had already been training for years, initially I had a course with two children. In 1996 the O Nami Dojo Biella was born, which did not yet have its own home, because we used the tatami of a karate course held by Maestro Franco Pasquadibisceglie in via Rocchetta in Biella. Starting from 2009, thanks to Giuseppe Chiappella’s idea, we moved to the headquarters where we still are today. I believe I will never stop: there is no age to stop doing it, when the body no longer responds, words and experiences will take care of sharing my knowledge.
Let’s take a step back in the history of judo and tell something even for those who are far from this world. Are there any traditions that are still present in the Dojos today? Absolutely yes, starting with the structure of the Dojo itself. The wall furthest from the entrance is called Kamiza and is the part that recalls the ancestors, the masters of the past and all the most expert judoists. This is because at the time of the Samurai there was a tradition called Dojoyaburi, which consisted in the assault by a group on the Dojo: on the side closest to the entrance there were the less experienced and neophytes, while the Kamiza had to be protected by stronger. Also because together with the images of the founder or other experts, the densho are still kept today, books containing the knowledge of the Dojo, which should not have fallen into the hands of rivals. Another important gesture is the greeting (rei) where the attitude of “Rei no kokoro”, or the spirit of respect towards everything and everyone, is expressed with a small bow.
An immense love for the discipline, what does it mean to do judo in the O Nami Dojo? O Nami means “big wave”, the Dojo wants to be what the word itself indicates: a place where you go to improve yourself, understood both from a physical and social and behavioral point of view through “Body, Mind and Heart”. Jigoro Kano, the founder of judo, understood this discipline as an educational system. So I want to transmit to children, through Judo, the fundamental rules of education, so that they can be useful to the society in which they will live in the future and not competitive machines oriented exclusively towards a result. I am not against competitive sport, I myself have competed for almost twenty years, but too often only the medal is taken into consideration, which at certain levels is worth money to the associations. Instead, the educational aspect is behind the podium because the result and the effort are in the process.
The discipline of judo is an educational system. What are the rules and practices that children learn at Dojo O Nami? I have always maintained that the Dojo must become a home for anyone who frequents it. Various initiatives start from this belief, which aim to create a cohesive and united group among all the kids. Anyone who enters the door is welcomed by the same children and teenagers, who explain how to behave: when to take off your shoes, where to change and even how to fasten your seat belt. I believe it is very important, because it allows everyone to take responsibility, from the smallest to the largest. Furthermore, it is a good custom for us to do the cleaning on the tatami where the kids rotate in rotation to clean the mat before the lesson. Every now and then, we meet on a Saturday or Sunday for laboratory or cultural activities, concluding with a shared lunch between all parents included. where everyone brings something. The founder Jigoro Kano was convinced that with judo practiced as an educational system as he was born, it was possible to create a society of stronger, more aware and independent men and women at the service of a better society. We in the dojo try, even if we probably won’t be the ones to see the results. As the Mahabharata quotes “Man has the right to action and not necessarily to its fruits”.
Un momento al Dojo O Nami
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2024-01-09 21:42:04
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