In a recent interview with Davide Cassani, it emerged how sport has evolved and, consequently, the role of the athlete. Studying and learning are a fundamental step for those who practice sports., especially from young people. Since 2018, directly from the MIUR (Ministry of Education, University and Research), the high-level student-athlete project was bornThe goal is to reconcile and protect our children's academic and athletic careers. To better understand how this still experimental project works, read on the Ministry's website: we are accompanied virtually by Silvia Epis: National Youth Technical Director.
The beginning of it all
Five years may be considered a short period, but in politics and in the field of proposals and bills it is not at all.
"The reason this project was born," says Silvia Epis, "is simple. All the various federations have recognized that in Italy there was a lack of an organization that reconciled school activities with sporting onesIt wasn't always possible to accommodate kids who were playing sports at a certain level. Teachers and schools deviated little from the curriculum, who often had the maximum concentration during the most intense period of the boys' competitive activity. Especially in cycling, not to mention the BMX, where you do international activity when you are young.
«This is a project – continues Epis – that has grown steadily over the course of the various school years. In the first year, 2018/2019, there were 1.505 students enrolled in the program, in the last 27.577. This is a sign that the project is working. The region with the highest participation is Lombardy, with 18 percent, followed by Lazio and Emilia Romagna. However, the percentages are well distributed, which demonstrates how the project is well rooted throughout the territory.».
The selection criteria
It is not a program open to everyone; to join, you must meet certain selection criteria that determine whether the athlete can be considered a "high-level athlete." For individual sports, you can access if you are an athlete among the top 36 in the relevant federal ranking., by category or year of birth.
For cycling, the following rankings are taken into consideration: placing in the top five positions in the Italian championships (by specialty and category), placing in the top five positions in the National Circuits of the Off-Road and BMX Sector and placing in the top three positions in the Regional Championships (by specialty and category).
How does it work?
How is the elite student-athlete program organized in practice? How are activities coordinated between the school and the sports club?
«They are nominated a school tutor and a sports tutor – explains Epis – two figures who interact with each other, seeking the best solution among the various commitments. At the POF level (Training Offer Plan, ed.) nothing changes for the studentThe learning objectives are the same as those of the classmates. These are: coordinate the two activities in the best possible way: both sports and school. For example, if a child has a competition every Sunday, he or she will avoid having tests or quizzes on Monday, giving him or her a chance to catch up.
«During the week – he continues – to give another example, especially in winter when the days get shorter, there are justified absences for certain training sessions. Think of a ragazzo who has to go out on his bike, if it's dark at 17pm he will necessarily have to leave school earlierIt's a give and take, because the student is then asked to make up for the lost hours with more individual study."
The feedback
«The project is progressing well and we must admit that it was truly necessary – concludes Silvia Epis – before 2018 each federation was independent. This caused huge imbalances between the various sports, in football, as in artistic gymnastics, the boys were sent to private or evening institutes to better reconcile the two activities. The cost to families was significantly higherThe project launched by the Ministry addresses all economic and social situations. Furthermore, it does not create disproportionate treatment between one federation and another.
