Silvia Epis: Technical Director of the National Youth Sector. The official wording at the time of the presentation of the Italian technicians He used to say that. Only that among those on the road, those on the track and cross-country and all the disciplines that we usually deal with, the youth national team tends to be ignoredBut if you connect the dots, you realize that the juniors are becoming the center of the world and that Salvoldi and even Pontoni are considering calling up the students, even if only occasionally. And so perhaps Silvia Epis's work is worth taking a look.
Olympics for students
She's blonde, born in 1992, and has a charming smile. She graduated with a degree in Sports Science from Brescia and a degree in Sports Science, Technique, and Didactics from Milan. He has held the role in the youth national team since 2019, since the Cones he introduced it into all the federations, to create a sort of link between the youth and competitive categories.
«It is a role that competitively lives every two years on the occasion of the Eye of (acronym for European Youth Olympic Festival: the youth Olympic festival) – he explains – the Olympics for students. Otherwise it's a much broader assignment. Promotional in terms of proposals to schools, teaching in cycling schools at track centers, or regulatory support for the various commissions. But don't think of me as a classic technical commissioner."
Field of investigation
The field is wide. Scrolling through the photos of the last edition of Eyof, we remember having already published one in the first piece of bici.PRO dedicated to Dario Igor Belletta, who took silver on the road in 2019 (opening photo). Meanwhile, Silvia explains that among the areas she is studying are, for example, the loss of members when moving between the various categoriesIf it's true that competitive maturity is reached around the age of 29, losing 16-year-olds is a big problem: we need to address it and try to get to the bottom of it.
"We get there by starting from the membership numbers," he says, "and working in close contact with the local community. There may be technical and environmental reasons, but we can also ask ourselves whether the proposal of cycling as a sport of endurance is current and has appeal to young people who are approaching it».
The charm of hard work
Cycling, as a sport of endurance, could, if you look closely, scare away new generations who live in environments that often shy away from endurance.
«I'm extrapolating the data right now – says Epis – and among the questions we ask ourselves there is also, for example, whether cycling is a sport that allows a 17-year-old boy to approach and tryCan you join a junior team without ever having run before? What can we offer? These are all questions that need to be answered, but certainly, even in this sport, the opportunity to express yourself needs to be made more accessible.
Nearly 8.000 students
The aspect related to schools is interesting. Raise your hand if you knew that... approximately 8.000 students in Italian schools – between the last two years of elementary school and middle school – are involved this year in educational projects related to cycling.
"The participating school," he explains, "adopts one of the federal projects, for which it will have technicians available for both the theoretical and practical aspects. There are participants from all over Italy. Furthermore, in addition to training in schools, we also work with young members. Therefore, during the Italian Youth Championships in Chianciano and Chiusi, we did a conference attended by all 800 registered athletes, where we talked about road safetyBecause as students, we move from the protected circuit to the street. However, if the base requires other aspects, it would be our job to meet them.
Objective Slovakia
The next competitive engagement is the Eyof 2022, which will take place in Banska Bystrica, Slovakia, from 24 to 30 July 2022Last time in Baku, Azerbaijan, we won silver with Belletta, who won in 2021 the Liberazione Juniores dedicating it to Silvia Piccini and the world junior track elimination championship. Enough for some to think of having it signed. Do you understand why it's becoming crucial to look at them when they're students? It's Silvia Epis's work. And today we learned something new.
