Let's pick up the thread of the discussion right where we left off with Ilario Contessa: «I insisted a lot on the collaboration with the Team Coratti because in Lazio they have many young people and Pierluigi Terrinoni works well». Not just words of circumstance from the sporting director of Work Service-Coratti he had told us shortly after his victory Santiago Ferraro Ferraro, a Lazio native, is a product of this Veneto-Lazio collaboration.
A team from the North, therefore, seeking a collaboration with a team from the South, because, cycling-wise, Lazio is quite far south, at least compared to Veneto, even geographically. So we called Terrinoni to learn about his working method.
Almost all the cyclists from Lazio who later became professionals have passed through Team Coratti. Without going too far back but remaining in the period of the Terrinoni's management, we can name three: Valerio Conti and the Sterbini brothers. Evidently there's something good.
Pierluigi, Contessa's words are important...
We have a lot of kids. My main method for introducing them to cycling starts with real-life experiences. If I see a kid on a mountain bike, if I see someone who often cycles around town or in the area, I ask them explicitly if they'd like to try racing, if they'd like to try cycling. My question is: “Do you want to go cycling?” I’ve been doing it for 40 years.
Direct and simple method and making a virtue of necessity…
By force. Here in Lazio we don't have the cycling tradition and culture that we have in the North, where at least one person in the family, in the worst cases, rides or used to ride a bike. It's difficult. You have to give the boy and his family some support, teach them a lot. Getting him on a bike from a sporting perspective... but I enjoy it and it's rewarding.
How many kids do you have?
We have 15 very young people, 6 beginners, 11 students and 14 juniors, of the latter 5 are from Lazio and the other 9 are from Veneto in what is the Work Service-Coratti, precisely the collaboration with Contessa. We're also expecting an Australian boy, Vinnie Manion, He's already won a race earlier this season. He's on the national team, with which he competed in the Peace Race a few days ago in the Czech Republic.
Pierluigi, how do you manage a group that covers such a vast area as the entire Lazio region? You have riders from Rieti to Frosinone...
It's actually quite a commitment. I supervise everyone's preparation, from beginners to juniors. On Sunday evening or Monday morning I send them the weekly schedule and they follow it. I supplement my work with file analysis with some of the second-year students and the juniors. They have the potentiometer, and with that, there's no getting away from it. But there's no need; I've found a very dedicated, very serious group of kids.
So you never have them all together?
In the winter, on Saturdays and Sundays we gathered them all here in the “casina” in Fiuggi: from the beginners to the juniors. We stayed together and started together, then each category did its job with its own sporting director. Now, in high season, I look after the local kids on Tuesdays and Thursdays. The others work at home.
In these preparation topics, you didn't mention the very young. Why?
Because we give them more freedom to have fun, and the preparation is different with them. We talk about staying in a group, tactics, the way we race... And then we started having very young riders again a few years ago. The last time was during the Sterbini brothers' and Conti's time. We focused on them. Having a nursery is useful. Also because we were taking athletes from other neighboring regions and often had to start almost from scratch. For this reason, too, the hope is that once they start with us, they'll stay until the juniors. But I have to say that so far, aside from a couple of cases, it's always gone well.
It's not easy these days, actually. You raise them, and then if they're good, they're soon called away by the sirens of the squadrons...
It's like this and often parents are involved in certain dynamics, but I have to say that I and we at Coratti are lucky. We have parents who collaborate a lot, but respect roles. They accompany us, help with supplies, but when there's a meeting or a need to talk to the kids, they step aside. And if that's the balance, it's also nice to involve them. Without their support, it would be difficult to continue, because staff are needed, and staff are expensive... I thank them.
